This is a Fleurmione story, in case you didn't realise, so turn back now if that isn't what you want. This is a one shot and isn't linked to my first story 'Didn't See That Coming'. But you can look at it that way if you want. As always this was a lot shorter in my head but spun out of control.(Not that that's a bad thing though). I'm sorry for the attempt at a slight French accent, just use your imagination, that usually works for me.
'Thoughts are in Italic'. Flashback is in bold. "Speaking French is in bold italic".
Short story, very fluffy. Let's get on with it.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Hermione sighed as she sat on one of the courtyard benches. The last class of the day had just ended and she was looking forward to spending the weekend in the arms of her amazing girlfriend.
Thinking of said girlfriend, she sighed again. 'She should've been here by now. She usually can't stand being away from me. "My veela gets restless when you are not near. Eet's better for us both eef you just stay in my arms ma belle"'.
Hermione smiled at the blondes reasoning.
She remained in thought until she noticed Cedric breaking off from his usual group, heading towards her. She smiled at him. "Hello Cedric. If you're looking for Cho , I believe she went to the owlery"
Cedric blushed a little and cleared his throat. "She's not the only thing I talk to you about you know?"
Hermione raised her eyebrow in response. Cedric's blush deepened. "Ok, never mind. But that's not the reason this time"
Hermione became slightly curious. "Oh?"
"You're waiting for Fleur right?"
This time it was Hermione's turn to sport a blush. "Um, yes. Why do you ask?"
He gave her a sheepish smile. "You might be waiting a while"
-/-/-/-/-/-
'Merde! I cannot believe zis. Detention of all zings! All because of a stupid, little day dream! Admittedly, it was an incroyable , stupid, little day dream. But zat's not the point! And of all ze classes at zis school, I do eet in ze one with ze most méprisable professor!'
The blonde was brought out of her internal rant by the voice of said teachers slimy tone.
"Miss Delacour, in addition to glaring at the wall for a solid half hour, I can practically hear your thoughts as if they were pouring out of your ears and would greatly appreciate it if you would stop"
The words did little to stop her mind from continuing. 'My veela iz going crazy, and I'm not doing any better. I should be 'olding my 'Ermione! Not sitting in a depressing dungeon because of a small mistake'
A long sigh cut through the fog in her mind. Followed by more greasy words. "While I do take immense pride in upholding this schools punishment system, I fear my sanity will not last any more time spent in your presence so you are free to leave at you leisure"
As soon as the words left his mouth, all Professor Snape caught was a blur of blonde and blue through the door.
-/-/-/-/-/-
After hearing the news about Fleur, Hermione decided to wait inside Beauxbatons carriage. She usually loved it in there, with its seemingly infinite rooms and privacy from the prying eyes of Hogwarts.
She made her way to one of the lounges, once again admiring the few paintings that dotted the hallway. 'I don't know why I don't come her very often. Even without Fleur, this place is amazing'. She smiled at the thought.
As she opened the door and entered, the smiled fell from her face and her eyes widened. 'Oh yeah. That's why I don't come here without Fleur'
In the centre of the room were about fifteen of the Beauxbatons students. Hermione knew these specific students were all veela and made up Fleur's flock. They were surrounded by pillows, blankets and couches, ironically making what seemed to be a kind of nest. Hermione doubted that they even realised they'd done it. They were all happily chatting and pampering each other and hadn't noticed the brunette enter. Which is a very good thing.
Now. Don't get her wrong. Each and every one of the girls were loving and caring. Not thinking twice before they accepted Hermione into their family as Fleur's mate. The problem was that veela tend to be a very touchy and affectionate bunch. Which isn't a problem when she's just with Fleur. She actually found it rather endearing how Fleur would happily spend the rest of their lives with nothing but Hermione, safe and snug in her arms.
But fifteen veela, each trying to hug and pinch cheeks and play with her hair is too much to handle. Hermione had been lucky so far with Fleur always steeling her away to have Hermione all to herself.
Realising her mistake, she began to slowly reverse back towards the door. She held her breath, hoping none of them would notice her. She felt her heel hit the door and let out a slow breath. She reached behind her for the handle. She turned the door knob without a sound and pulled the door open.
When they door seemed open enough she was about to begin reversing again.
"'Ermione?"
"Bloody hell!"
Hermione almost jumped out of her skin because of the unexpected voice. Clutching her heart she turned to find the culprit, only to be met with the younger Delacour holding in her laughter.
"Gabrielle! You almost gave me a heart attack! Don't you know it's rude to sneak up on people like that"
Gabrielle took a quick peek behind Hermione. 'Oh, zat's why she was sneaking around'. A grin over took her face. A grin that Hermione didn't like at all.
Before the brunette could do anything she spoke. Very loudly. "Everyone look! Our Dear 'Ermione 'as come to visit us all"
Hermione's eyes widened and she turned to see the group all looking at her with joyous expressions. Next thing she knew, she was being suffocated with hugs by the flock. Most of them expressing how happy they were to see their newest family member. It was hard to keep track of them all but she heard Gabrielle's voice speak up from outside the group. "We should give 'er a makeover as a surprise for Fleur!"
Much to Hermione's horror, they all happily agreed eagerly.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Fleur angrily made her way to the carriage. After looking in every possible location, and her fourth check of the library, she had found no clue as to where Hermione was. That only left one place.
As she entered through the door, she could immediately sense something wrong. The usual bright and warm vibe was gone. She went to the main lounge, where her flock usually made camp but was surprised to find none of them there and the 'nest' abandoned. She narrowed her eyes in suspicion and set off towards her room.
As she entered the hallway she was greeted by the sight of a pack worried looking girls, all crowded around her bedroom door.
"Ellie, is something wrong" Fleur addressed her second in command who hesitantly stepped forward from the group. "It's 'Ermione"
Before Fleur could become worried, another of the girls stepped forward. "She's fine Fleur. She's just upset"
Fleur seethed. "Just upset!? Who did it!? I will have their head!"
Ellie took a deep breath. "It was me Fleur. And I'm sorry, I really am it was just a misunderstanding"
Fleur would have been more upset if the group didn't seem to agree with Ellie. She gritted her teeth. "Just tell me what happened"
"We haven't seen Hermione in so long. So when she came here alone, we all jumped at the chance to spend some time with her. Then Gabrielle suggested that we give her a bit of a makeover, so we did. She wasn't too keen at first, but then she began to enjoy it and we all had a great time. Then when we were finished
-(Flashback)- Elie took a step back to admire their handiwork. While the young girl had natural beauty, it didn't take much to bring that beauty out. Hair straightened and curled at the ends framed her face perfectly. Some mascara to make her eyes pop, some light blush to define her cheek bones and some pink lip gloss to top it all off. All of the girls were very proud of their work. And while Hermione was admiring her red nails, one of the girls had brought and set up a camera. " They all agreed and the group organized themselves for the picture. Hermione stood with Gabrielle at the front as a timer was set. The last girl just got into position as it went off. They gathered to look at the photo. Hermione smiled. She was beginning to break you feel part of this unorthodox family and she'd be lying to herself if she said she didn't want to be. "Magnifique! Now you look like one of us" Ellie's comment made Hermione frown. "So I didn't before?" She spoke quietly. Ellie's eyes widened. "What? No, 'Ermione, I did not mean eet like zat!" Hermione felt some anger building. "No, I get it. NOW I'm pretty. NOW I'm up to your standards. Before I was just a dull, boring, bookworm with frizzy hair and ink stains on my hands!" Gabrielle tried to step in and calm her down as the brunette backed away from the group. "'Ermione, you must calm down. Your emotions are clouding your judgement" But Hermione was too deep in a red haze to take notice. "I'm sure if I wasn't Fleur's mate you wouldn't even give me the time of day". She felt tears brimming in her eyes. "Well I'm sorry you got stuck with me; Boring Hermione Granger" She turned and left the room. The girls were too stunned to immediately go after her.
"Fini"
"...And now she's locked herself in the bathroom. Gabrielle as been trying to talk to her, but no luck"
-/-/-/-/-/-
Gabrielle sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time. Talking to a door is a lot more draining than you might think. "'Ermione please come out. Fleur might be back any minute and we'll need you to calm 'er down because she won't be very 'appy"
"You're right"
Gabrielle jumped at the intrusion, much like Hermione earlier. Only this time the small blonde wasn't amused.
Fleur walked up to the door and tried the handle with no success. She knocked softly on the door and heard a sniffle before a reply. "For the last time, just leave me alone!"
"While I would normally tell you off for such rudeness, I'll let eet slide if you open ze door ma chère"
"Fleur?"
"Oui, eet is me. Now please open zis door, I can't stand ze thought of you crying" Fleur pleaded softly.
There was a small moment of silence before the door clicked and opened. The first thing Fleur noticed were the tracks of mascara down her cheeks. Seeing Hermione in tears, Fleur didn't even need to think before she had the brunette tightly in her arms.
After a moment of savouring their embrace Fleur pulled away and cupped the brunettes face. She looked deep into Hermione's eyes with determination. "Now you listen to me very well. I never, and I mean never, want to 'ere you saying such things about yourself ever again. You misunderstood what Ellie said. She did not mean you weren't attractive, she meant that you enjoyed spending time wiz each other. Zey know zat you aren't fond of things like makeup and gossip but you put up wiz eet to make zem 'appy. And zat is what veela are all about. Family and selflessness"
To Fleur's relief, Hermione seemed to calm down a little. She took her hand and led her to her bed. She sat Hermione down and grabbed some wipes from her draw. She started to clear the girls face but could tell she wasn't one hundred percent convinced.
She spoke softly as she gently wiped the makeup off. "I 'av never told you zis before, but veela aren't given a mate. We choose zem. And I chose you because you 'are' beautiful. And intelligent. And feisty. And Merlin knows I could go on and on about why I love you. But ze truth is, you're stuck with me"
Fleur finished cleaning and treated smiled contently at each other before leaning in for a soft kiss.
-/-/-/-/-/-
Later that day, the sun had set and the two cuddled on a couch infront of a cozy fire. Hermione picked her head up from Fleur's shoulder to look at her. "Cedric told me you got detention today for writing something inappropriate on your work. What was it?"
Fleur's eyes widened as she tried to think of an excuse. "Oh, n-nozing. Just a thought"
The younger witch raised an eyebrow. "Well considering all of today's drama could be blamed of that thought, I'd like to know what it was"
Fleur sighed. "Well Snape is just so boring, my mind began to wander and before I knew eet I had doodled a little in my essay. 'Hermione Jean Delacour'. With lots of small hearts around eet"
Fleur blushed immensely and closed her eyes expecting Hermione to laugh at her. It was a surprise what she actually did.
She felt Hermione kiss her cheek before settling back on her shoulder, letting out a sigh of content. The brunette spoke in almost a whisper. "Just a thought, hmm? Sounds like a nice thought to me"
Fleur was sure that if she weren't lying down she would need to lie down. Either way, the smile in her face would stay forever. 'Just like my 'Ermione'.
-/-/-/-/-/-
The end.
I know the first thing people will say is that Hermione got too angry, too fast, considering the circumstances. And while I could have made a long winded argument, escelationg more and more through out I know I wouldn't have made for good reading. (I try to leave the long, detailed, emotional stuff for others to write). So I don't want any messages about that.
Views are Great, reviews are better ;). Hope you enjoyed it. And for anyone interested, I already have a bunch of other things in progress, so there'll defiantly be more stories to come.