Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, or Fleur Delacour. If I did, I assure you I would be putting them all to muchbetter use…

Pairings: Contains Hermione/Fleur, Harry/Luna, Ron/Lavender.

Warnings: Explicit femmeslash. This is the chapter in which we finally get a bit of explicit content(though I honestly think its tamer than a lot of erotic fiction). For anyone who wants to skip it, it is only in the second paragraph.

A/N: A big thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed! I am so grateful for all the love you've sent my way.

Chapter 9

"Don't drop me!" Hermione gasped. She felt wonderful and completely dizzy - Fleur wouldn't stop twirling and dipping her.

"Never fear," Fleur said solemnly, pulling her back up and into a deep kiss.

"Oh, you're making me dizzy," Hermione sighed, her arms around Fleur's neck.

"You've simply had too much to drink," Fleur claimed, batting her eyelashes charmingly.

"I didn't even finish my butterbeer!" Hermione countered indignantly.

"Then we must remedy this," Fleur decided. She twirled Hermione once more, pulled her close, and waltzed her dramatically back to their table.

Ron and Lavender were back at the table themselves, and in fact Hermione didn't even recall seeing them on the dance floor. They were snogging rather enthusiastically, and Hermione didn't particularly want to be that close to so much… saliva.

"I'll get a new glass," Hermione declared, leading Fleur away from their friends and straight on to the drinks table.

"Clever girl," Fleur whispered. They managed to hold off their laughter until they reached their destination.

When they did burst into laughter, Harry and Luna turned to look at them, both smiling - and holding hands. Hermione had been surprised at first when Harry had told her who his date was, but he seemed so happy that she couldn't help be happy for him.

"Lavender is still infected with nargles," Luna said, shaking her head somberly.

"And she's passing them on to Won Won," Harry grinned. All of them chuckled at the mention of Lavender's nickname for their redheaded friend.

Hermione took a moment to admire how pretty Luna and Harry looked together. She had insisted on taking Luna dress shopping with Fleur the week before. They had found a perfect dark green dress for Luna that matched Harry's dress robes perfectly. Even Luna's unorthodox accessories - a holly sprig behind her left ear and orange radish earrings - were very pretty on her. Fleur and Hermione had chosen complementary dresses - a floaty, periwinkle blue dress for Hermione, and a silky lilac gown for Fleur.

"You two look lovely on the dance floor," Luna told them cheerfully.

"Very graceful," Harry agreed. "Probably because they don't have any clumsy boys stepping on their feet."

"I found a solution," Luna pointed out, and set her glass down on the table. She assumed a standard dancing pose, one arm on Harry's arm which wrapped around her waist, and Luna stepped onto his feet.

Harry winked at his friends and began to waltz away, slowly but surely. Luna stood still on his feet, letting him carry them away, smiling down at him in such a way that he couldn't look away.

"Wonderful," Hermione giggled.

"She is lovely, this Luna," Fleur said thoughtfully.

"Not as lovely as you," Hermione countered. "You're my favorite blonde."

"Are there any brunettes you think are lovelier than I?" Her tone was suspicious.

"Of course not," she whispered, coming in close. "More importantly - there is no one I love more than you."

"Tres bien." Fleur purred.

With that, Hermione found herself being whirled yet again onto the dance floor, lost in the embrace of her graceful French girlfriend.

It felt like she'd awoken from a long sleep. Blinking, Hermione looked forward and saw Fleur - she smiled automatically, then squealed, as she realized they were in the water.

"Salut, mon ange," Fleur smiled at her. "I am very pleased you are unhurt."

They kissed swiftly as they treaded water, then they both grabbed their wands.

There was a gasp from nearby as Harry and Luna surfaced.

"Accio rowboat," Fleur flicked her wand, and the boat they had left on the surface hurried over to them.

Hermione climbed into the boat with Fleur's assistance, then helped up the other three.

"So everything went all right?" Hermione queried as Fleur used a charm to propel the boat to the shore.

"We boated to the center of the lake, and followed the tracking charms on your bracelets," Harry commented as he wrung the water out of Luna's hair.

When they had deduced that clue in the egg, Fleur and Harry had to think what they would miss most. Fleur knew instantly, and Harry, after only six weeks of dating his sweet and delightfully dotty girlfriend, figured it out moments later.

On the seventeenth of February, just a week before the task, they had celebrated Luna's birthday. With Fleur and Hermione's help with the spellwork, Harry gave Luna an odd yet winsome charm bracelet. It contained several little trinkets - a sprig of holly, a tiny white hare (to celebrate Luna's recently corporeal patronus), a black rook, her initials, and a tiny Quibbler; the trinkets were enchanted with protection spells and a tracking spell that was linked to Harry's watch.

"You can take this off whenever you like," Harry had told her softly. "Nobody else can take it from you, its spelled that way. If you are taken from me because of the second task, I want to find you as quickly as possible. I don't want to risk you getting hurt because of me. Or anything else." Luna had smiled and put on the bracelet without another word, then hugged Harry fiercely.

Hermione, similarly, was easy to track by the moonstone pendant from Fleur that she had worn since Christmas; it also contained a tracking charm.

"There were a few grindylows that almost caught me by surprise," Fleur admitted. "But 'arry spotted them in time."

"And Fleur's bubblehead charms worked really well," Harry added.

"I wonder what spell Dumbledore put on us," Hermione frowned as she thought. "We didn't have bubbles around us, you said?"

"No," Harry shook his head.

"I'll head to the library and research it immediately - "

"First you will be taking a hot bath and a pepper up potion," Fleur told her girlfriend firmly.

"But I feel fine!" The brunette protested, with a slight pout. They were so focused on each other, they didn't even notice as Luna leaned closer and gave Harry a very sweet little kiss.

"Thank you for not leaving me to the dabberblimps." Luna said simply. Harry just nodded dazedly.

Fleur was shaking her head as she pulled Hermione close.

"I will not allow you to get hurt, or sick, or anything of the sort!" Her voice was fierce, and Harry had never seen her quite so… veela-esque. "It will not happen."

Hermione nodded quietly, understanding, and tucked her head into Fleur's neck, hugging the woman she loved close to her.

The first task was nothing compared to the second, Fleur thought grimly. The dragon had only put her in danger… It was infinitely more terrifying to have to consider the possibility of losing her angel.

What could she face in the last task that would be worse than that?