A/N: Unsure where I'm going with this yet, its just an idea that has popped into my head. Thinking of adding another chapter or two.

Disclaimer: JKR owns all

/

The summer was scorching and The Burrow was full to bursting point. Molly's hospitality knew no bounds, she was delighted to have a house full of family and friends.

This morning Remus Lupin had arrived, which meant another reshuffle of living arrangements. The rooms were already overcrowded since Percy and Bill had arrived home… Her smile widened as she had an idea.

"No, no, noooo!" Ginny wailed, kicking a shoe on the floor of her messy room. The room was strewn with her and Hermione's belongings, with heavy trunks and clothes littering the floor. Hermione was sitting on the floor on a squashy purple mattress, back leant against Ginny's bed reading a thick book on the history of aquatic magical creatures. Ginny was sprawled dramatically across her single bed looking at Mrs Weasley in the doorway.

"Now, now, Ginerva. We all have to pitch in," scolded Mrs Weasley. "With the house full and Remus arriving, we have to make room. Bill is going to share with Remus, Fleur with you and Hermione, Percy is already crammed in with Fred and George, and Charlie with Harry and Ron."

"But… its Phlegm" Ginny whined, "Can't we just make her sleep outside or something?"

Hermione chuckled from behind her book.

Mrs Weasley suppressed a grin and responded, "Ginny this is non-negotiable."

Ginny sat up with a huff and furrowed her eyebrows. "Please, as if you don't hate her too!" she said loudly.

"Shhh!" Mrs Weasley hissed, lowering her voice, "Of course I don't hate her. Do I think she is right for Bill? Of course not… But I would hardly say I hate her!"

Mrs Weasley straightened up and took her wand out, quickly conjuring an extra mattress on the floor next to Hermione's. She took care not to make it too comfortable though.

Hermione followed Ginny down to breakfast as she sulkily stomped on every stair. The dining table was already crowded with people, Fred and George trying to swap out Percy's piece of toast for an old kitchen sponge when he wasn't looking.

Ginny and Hermione squeezed into a spot at the end between Charlie and Remus. Remus was engrossed in an animated conversation with Bill, who was holding Fleur Delacour's hand on the table. Ginny looked at this with disgust and elbowed Hermione in the ribs to point it out. Hermione laughed as Ginny mimed throwing up on her toast behind her hand.

As Ginny stood up and reached for the jar of berry jam, her hand brushed with Harry who was also reaching for it. She turned a dark shade of crimson and retracted her hand as if she had been stung, before reaching for a jar of honey instead. This did not go unnoticed by her busy haired friend.

"Uh… what was that Ginny?" Hermione asked with a laughing smile.

Ginny turned an even darker shade of red as she busied herself spreading her toast.

"Ginny…?" Hermione asked again.

"Shhh!" Ginny hissed, mirroring Molly from earlier that morning. "Its just—Erm—I—Er… you know what its like with boys…" she muttered awkwardly under her breath.

Hermione did not. Harry and Ron were like her brothers. Although her and Ron had once shared a very drunk and sloppy kiss, she had never seen either of them that way before. In fact, after New Years, where she ending up unexpectedly kissing Lavender at the stroke of midnight, Hermione was pretty confident that she didn't see any boys that way at all.

As breakfast came to a close, the boys arranged a Quidditch match, Ginny eagerly joining the enthusiasm. They all got up to leave as Mrs Weasley asked Fleur to do the dishes, resulting in an unimpressed pout from the French bombshell ("its not that I don't like her…. Its just I think it's a good idea if she learnt to muck in a little" she had whispered conspiratorially to Hermione and Ginny).

The others all scampered outside and into the sun. They divided the teams up with many squabbles. Hermione was content to sit on the sidelines with a good book. Remus and Bill decided to go for a walk around the countryside and visit a local muggle township. It ended up being Percy, Harry, Ron and Charlie versus Fred, George and Ginny. They had finally decided that Percy was so useless at Quidditch it was hardly an unfair advantage for him to be an extra player on a team.

Hermione settled into her book and tried her best to drown out the whoops and shouts of the little Quidditch match swooping above the clearing. Eventually she managed to get nice and absorbed into the history of aquatic magical creatures. She was so absorbed, she jolted at the sudden sound of someone sitting next to her. It was Fleur.

"Oh, erm, finished the dishes already?" Hermione asked conversationally.

Fleur shook her head sulkily, sighing and leaned back, stretching herself out her back to sunbathe with her arms crossed over her face.

Fleur was wearing some short jean shorts and a loose white linen shirt, that had three buttons undone at the bottom. As she leaned back to rest in the sun, Hermione could see her toned stomach exposed by the loose shirt. She blushed slightly and looked away.

'Say what you will about Fleur being a spoiled brat, but she is sexy as hell…' Hermione thought. She blushed heavier at the sudden intrusion of this thought, and busied herself in her book once more.

/

"No, no, Charlie, Fleur will set the table," Mrs Weasley interrupted in a bossy voice.

Bill shot Fleur a sympathetic look as she reluctantly got up and headed towards the dining room, pulling out her wand in preparation for arranging the table for dinner.

"Boy, is she going to be one hell of a mother-in-law for Fleur," chuckled Remus, and Bill promptly elbowed him in the ribs.

Later that night after dinner, Remus and Bill helped move Fleur's things from Bill's room to Ginny's. ("Too much of a princess to move her own things…" Ginny muttered to Hermione)

Once her trunk was successfully moved in, Bill stood in the doorway, an arm resting on Remus' shoulder.

"Now Ginny, please be nice to Fleur. She's important to me and I really want you all to give her a chance" he said earnestly.

Ginny sat down on her bed and looked up at her older brother. He looked so much older with that stupid beard he had grown. "Of course, Bill!" she said, waving a hand reassuringly.

With that Bill smiled, and he and Remus returned downstairs. Hermione came and sat next to Ginny, smiling how much the redhead had tried to pacify her brother.

Fleur glided into the room, pausing for a moment to look around, before locating her trunk and bending to look in it.

"Merde, I should 'ave packed more clothes" she said out loud, half to herself. "I only 'ave fifteen outfits for ze 'ole summer"

"Well that should last you about two whole days…" Ginny sneered to Hermione. Hermione stifled a giggle as Fleur straightened up and looked over at the two of them. She looked unimpressed, frowned, and glided out of the room again.

"You really should be nicer, Gin," Hermione said, reminding her friend of her promise to Bill. Ginny sighed heavily.

"Fine" she said reluctantly.

Fleur re-entered the room in a pink satin nightdress and settled in to her little mattress on the floor, before putting in earplugs and donning an eye-mask.

"Jesus Christ," Ginny said, nudging Hermione. Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"Fiiiine" Ginny said, even more reluctantly.

Hermione smirked and hopped off the bed to settle into her own little mattress set up, turning the lamp off on her way. As she nestled into her blankets, she could hear Fleur already breathing the heavy breaths of sleep.

Hermione fidgeted, before turning to her side to try and get more comfortable. From this angle she had a perfect view of the sleeping Veela, her chest rising and falling with every breath.

Eventually, Hermione's eyes grew heavier and began to shut. She thought about how unfair it was that Fleur even looked stunning in her sleep. 'Especially those breasts…' she thought foggily as she drifted off.

Hermione was still thinking about those breasts as she woke up. 'Mmm… they feel so good against my face…' She thought, before freezing.

'Wait a second.' She suddenly became aware that the feeling was a little too real.

Her eyes snapped open and she saw that she was entangled with Fleur. Fleur was still sleeping on her back, breathing slowly, with her earplugs and eye-mask still on. Hermione, however, had somehow moved in her sleep and wrapped an arm around Fleur's waist, rested her head on the French witch's chest, and had a leg flung over the girl too.

Hermione froze, mortified. 'Okay… don't panic… as long as I move carefully she won't wake up…" Hermione encouraged herself, slowly peeling her leg back off Fleur with the precision of disarming a bomb. Fleur kept breathing evenly. Next Hermione gradually pulled away her arm. Suddenly Fleur shifted and let out a sleepy moan. Hermione froze, panicking. Fleur's intoxicating vanilla scent and toned body were doing nothing to make her less flustered. Fleur's breath returned to its even pace.

'Phew! Close call' she thought to herself.

Now for the last hurdle… Hermione slowly lifted her head, carefully drawing it back, before edging back to her own mattress. As soon as she reached her mattress, she turned over and faced Ginny's bed, blushing heavily and trying to ignore how much she had enjoyed snuggling with Fleur despite the mortification.

Hermione pretended to sleep for the next twenty minutes or so before the door to Ginny's bedroom opened suddenly.

"Okay, girls!" Mrs Weasley said with the decisiveness of a general, "your room is next in the line-up for the shower. No longer than ten minutes each!"

Mrs Weasley finished with a swift flick of her wand that flung the curtains open, streaming bright sun into the room. Ginny groaned and pulled a pillow over her head. Mrs Weasley strode off to wake up the next room.

Fleur sat up in bed, pulling her eye-mask off her face and rubbing her eyes. Hermione busied herself with arranging some books by her mattress so she wouldn't have to make eye contact.

Fleur silently got up and headed to the shower. Hermione relaxed.

"Gin, Gin, are you awake?" Hermione said, jumping on Ginny's bed to nudge her.

"Urrghghgggmffffn…." Came the muffled response.

Hermione sighed and sat back on the floor on her mattress, cracking open a book to read. She had only got to the end of a paragraph when Fleur promptly flew back into the room, her hair neatly wrapped up in a white towel, and another one around her body.

"'Ermione, are you or Ginny going next?" Fleur asked fidgeting with the towel around her head.

Hermione stood up and looked at Fleur to answer, opening her mouth before clamping it shut again and turning a bright shade of pink. She looked frantically at Ginny for an answer, but Ginny was still unmoving under her pillow.

"Erm… towel…" Hermione managed, only semi coherently.

Fleur fixed Hermione with a quizzical, semi annoyed look. "Zey are in ze bathroom, 'Ermione," she answered.

Hermione nodded dumbly and marched herself out of the room and to the bathroom, clicking the door shut behind her.

As she hopped into the shower, she rested her head against the wall, cringing hard at how awkward her morning had been so far. And it wasn't even breakfast yet!

Suddenly she was interrupted by a knock at the door. She straightened up, alert.

"Come on, 'Mione! You've been in there ages!" Ginny's voice called from the hallway. Hermione hurriedly shut off the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, pulling the door open.

Ginny pushed in, muttering "AND you left me with Phlegm" with distaste. She gently pushed Hermione out of the bathroom and shut the door snappily.

Hermione gathered herself and walked back into Ginny's room, shutting the door behind her. What she was met with made her mouth gape.

Fleur's hair was already dry and hanging loosely around her. She was in white lacy lingerie and putting on another loose linen shirt over the top. She saw Hermione staring and looked up, narrowing her eyes suspiciously. "What is it 'Ermione? 'Ave I done something wrong?"

Hermione was suddenly struck by the memory of how good it felt holding that toned, soft, warm body close to her. She turned away so Fleur couldn't see her blush.

Fleur sighed heavily and finished getting dressed. Hermione turned to speak to her as she was straightening up, but Fleur coldly brushed past her and left the room.

/

When Hermione and Ginny made it down to breakfast, Harry, Ron and Charlie were just arriving—even though they had showered after them.

Remus and Bill had been first up and had already left on a day trip around the hills. Mrs Weasley informed everyone (although taking particular delight in informing Fleur), that they would not be home until dinner time.

As everyone started finishing up their breakfast and striding out into the sunshine, Mrs Weasley called Fleur back, no doubt for another generous heaping of chores.

After a long day of watching Quidditch yesterday, Hermione really couldn't be bothered spectating again, and took her book with her in search of a quieter reading spot.

Eventually she settled in under a nice tree in the shade, a little bit further out from the grounds surrounding The Burrow. Although, she could still occasionally hear Ginny's shouts of "Ron, you git!"

Hermione spent the day in glorious solitude, today learning about the physics involving ghosts. When lunchtime struck, she pulled out a small sandwich, carefully wrapped in brown paper. She quietly congratulated herself on her foresight that she would prefer to read over lunch than bunch around the dining table listening to Quidditch squabbles.

Hermione had just about finished the thick book when late afternoon was rolling in. She was furrowing her brows at a rather interesting paragraph when she was interrupted by the sound of someone walking towards her.

'Oh great…' Hermione thought, 'Ginny has tracked me down to rope me into playing with them.'

However, as the figure rounded the trees nearest Hermione, she saw it was Fleur. Fleur looked startled when she saw Hermione, and hastily wiped tears from her eyes. Hermione stood up, concerned.

"Are you, erm, are you okay?" Hermione asked awkwardly.

Fleur promptly burst into tears.

"Hey, now… Hey…" Hermione said, not really knowing what to do.

Fleur sniffled and walked over to her, wiping her eyes again.

'Of course, she is the one person on earth who still looks beautiful after crying their eyes out,' Hermione thought to herself.

They both sat down awkwardly. Neither of them knew what to say.

Finally, Fleur said sadly, "I know nobody wants me 'ere. And to be 'onest, I don't know why I am 'ere either."

Hermione suddenly felt a pang of guilt for every Phlegm joke she had laughed at. For some reason, she had assumed Fleur's haughty ego was impenetrable.

"Bill wants you here, he loves you…" Hermione offered.

Fleur scoffed before muttering something in French.

"And Mrs Weasley… I'm sure she's just giving you lots to do around the house to help you feel included" Hermione lied.

Fleur wiped her eyes. Hermione ran out of things to say. An awkward silence fell over them again.

"Did you know muggles can't see ghosts clearly?" Hermione blurted out suddenly. Fleur looked at her and smiled.

"I mean, its probably a good thing, since only magical beings become ghosts…" Hermione continued. The babbling didn't stop, Hermione spent the rest of the afternoon telling Fleur every single fact she had learnt about ghosts from her book. She rarely had such a captive audience, and was loving it.

By the time it was time to head in for dinner, Fleur was smiling and giggling. "You are quite ze bookworm, aren't you? I can see why ze Weasleys say you are so smart." Hermione blushed a little at this.

When they got back to The Burrow, Hermione went to change into a warmer outfit for the evening before dinner, and Fleur went to see Bill. Hermione tried not to notice the slight pang of jealousy in her stomach at that.

Hermione was just pulling on some jeans when Ginny strolled in.

"Where were you all day Hermione? Being antisocial?" she teased.

"Well, I did read for most of the day, yes," Hermione admitted, "but I also spent some time hanging out with Fleur."

"Phlegm?!" Ginny uttered in disbelief.

"She's not that bad, actually," Hermione said. Although Fleur hadn't talked much throughout the afternoon, she had been a really good listener and Hermione was still surprised at seeing such a soft side to her.

"Please tell me she has cast some curse on you… You don't really believe that, do you?" Ginny replied with the same look of disbelief.

Hermione shrugged.

At that moment Ron popped his head in the door. "Guys! Food!" he bellowed, before dashing down the stairs. Ginny and Hermione chuckled before following him down the stairs at a normal pace.

As they were passing Bill's room, they heard raised voices:

"I don't know 'ow much longer I can do zis for!"

"I told you, I need you, Fleur!"

"You don't need me, you never 'ave. You 'ave to face that some day!"

Hermione and Ginny froze and looked awkwardly at each other. They scampered down the stairs before they could overhear anything worse.

/

Bill and Fleur arrived late for dinner and sat solemnly, holding hands. Despite Mrs Weasley's nagging, Bill barely touched his food.

Hermione could see Ron eying up the plate of food greedily from beside Bill.

Eventually, as Percy was scraping the last of the peas off his plate, Bill cleared his throat.

"Um, everyone, I have something to say."

Ginny exchanged a meaningful look with Hermione.

Mrs Weasley paused mid-sip of her wine.

Bill continued. "As you all know, Fleur is my best friend… We met a few years ago…" he started.

Ron was taking this opportunity to pull Bill's plate of food in front of himself.

Mrs Weasley was paling and gripping Mr Weasley's arm.

Fleur was looking carefully down at the table.

"…But what I didn't tell you was that we didn't meet at Gringotts, I was too afraid to admit the truth to you all…" Bill said, "We, uh, met at pride…"

The whole table looked blankly at Bill.

"I'm gay. In fact, Fleur's gay. We're not actually together, she just agreed to pretend to be my partner for work and family" He finished weakly.

Ron dropped his fork.

"I was afraid…" repeated Bill.

Suddenly Fred and George cheered and jumped from their chairs to clap Bill on the back. "About bloody time!" Fred grinned. George smiled too, "Yeah its been years since we found your stash of Quidditch lad pictures under your bed."

Ron looked mind-blown, but managed an encouraging nod to Bill and touched his shoulder too. Percy looked like he couldn't care less, and Charlie flashed Bill a thumbs up from across the table. Ginny's mouth was hanging open in shock. Harry shook his head in surprise with a smile.

Mrs Weasley remained frozen, gripping Mr Weasley's arm. He was as pale as her.

"So… you aren't in a relationship with Fleur…" Mrs Weasley began slowly.

"Um, yeah, about that…" Bill answered, "I am in a relationship… but my partner is over there" he said, gesturing to the end of the table.

"Hermione?!" Ron asked in disbelief.

"No, you git, Remus!" Bill corrected.

"…Remus?" Mr Weasley asked, peering down the table at Lupin. Remus shuffled uncomfortably in his seat, sure he was about to be given a hard time about the age difference.

"Bloody good!" Mr Weasley announced loudly, before returning to playing with his knife and fork.

Mrs Weasley still looked pale, and excused herself from the table. Bill and Remus got up and briskly followed her out.

A silence fell over the table for a moment, before Charlie raised a goblet. "Well I think our dear brother finally admitting that calls for a drink!" he cheered, waving his wand to summon bottles of wine. Fred and George roundly agreed.

"How come you guys never told me or Ginny?!" Ron demanded, irritated.

Fred and George laughed.

"Its not our fault you ignored all the signs. The guy's walls were almost entirely re-wallpapered with the amount of Gilderoy Lockhart posters he had up!" they cackled.

Ginny looked at Fleur, who was looking very uncomfortable.

Ginny turned to Hermione, "I've been a bit of a prat to Phl—Fleur, haven't I?" she said quietly.

Hermione smiled, "there's an easy way to make that up to her Gin," she waved at Fleur to come and sit by them.

/