(A/N: So this is my first story up here. I'm no stranger to writing though. I have a few works up on my FictionPress. If you want to read them, click my homepage link on my profile. Props go out to my Beta Yoshiyuki Ly. I don't want to keep you from the story any longer. So without further ado...)
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I've always dreamed of finding the one person whom I knew I could love, with their love back. I'm just like any other young girl, waiting for that one person. Well, I have just found mine. The thing is, though, my love is a woman. Plus, I haven't actually said a word to her yet. So how do I know, you ask? It's just an incredibly strong feeling in the pit of my stomach when I see her every morning sitting in that same seat reading.
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Half the summer has passed, and here I am in Paris, France; the 'love' capitol of the world. I've been coming to this same quaint café every morning since I arrived in the city with my parents. The first day, we were looking for a place intended for an early morning breakfast before we hit the streets, and stumbled upon this one. Our table sat directly adjacent to hers. As I peered over my shoulder to look around a bit, there she was. She was in the same position I would always see her; sitting with a book open in her hands. And after every few minutes she'd take a small, dignified sip of her coffee.
She was beautiful. Her blonde hair outlined her face perfectly. There was a radiance that emanated off of her body. The cool orange glow of the café lights would make her skin glow, giving her an almost god-like effect. Needless to say, I was captivated by her.
The second day, I showed up was just to see if she would be there. She was. After two weeks of seeing her each day my mind was made up; she would indeed be there every morning. Some would call that stalking; I call it observing. In those two weeks, I had claimed the same table next to hers as mine each day just as she had done with hers.
Just a week in, I decided it would be a good idea to bring a book of my own. Maybe get some of my summer homework done. But sure enough, she was there, sitting at her table reading her book. More often than not, I'd have trouble concentrating. I'd start to work, then I'd have to look up at her. I felt that if I looked away for too long she might disappear. Before the end of the week, my books and my work they were both decoys. I could always fake sick one day after returning to the hotel and finish the assignments then.
I couldn't figure out for the life of me why I couldn't take my eyes off her. Truth be told, I didn't even realize I was into girls before lying eyes on her. I always hoped Ron would finally grow some balls and ask me out, but has he? No. How is it that I can love someone whom I've never met, never even talked to more than Ron?
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The short walk from my hotel to the café went by quickly as I imagined her sitting at her table, reading her book. I had made it there in record time this morning. The door jingled as I pulled it open. As I arrived at my table, I placed my summer work down onto the rounded tabletop. The metal chair scraped against the linoleum floor as I pulled it out to sit. I made sure to pull it out far enough so I could gaze over to her. I noticed she did not have her book today for some reason as I took my time looking up. And when I finally did, I found her looking at me, too. Was that her plan?
My brown eyes met her piercing blue. Those eyes, that face; they looked oh so familiar. Time seemed to stop as we stared through each other. And when her eyes finally managed to pierce me, it was my heart's turn to stop.
"'Ermione?" she whispered.
The air carried her beautifully soft voice over to my waiting ears. If I had not seen those enticing lips form the syllables of my name, I probably wouldn't have believed a word had been said at all.
"F-fleur?" I barely spoke, but she nodded her head answering my question. Our eyes were still locked together. Time must have stopped.
Her hair was the same blonde it had been two years ago. It lay delicately upon her shoulders. A smile graced her attractive face. There was a small shine in her eyes from the lights. I felt as if I could melt at any second.
How can she do this to me? The last time I checked, she never really liked me, I'd even go as far as saying she practically hated me! If she had any likeness to me at all she was very good at hiding it.
My mind drifted away for a second. I was in the champion's tent before the start of the first task. Of course I had to see Harry, I needed to make sure he was going to be okay. There was a look of what I could only guess, was pure hatred on her face and in her eyes. We held eye contact for a mere second before I was ushered out of the tent. I don't know what I did to her, but whatever it was…
There's no hate in her eyes. But what is in its place I cannot tell. It looks like a mixture of different emotions. Was that curiosity? Confusion? Sadness? Anger Lust? Whatever it is I think I like it.
"Ahem," coughed the waiter. Slowly, I broke our eye contact and looked up to the waiter, whose name didn't matter anymore. "Your usual I presume?" he asked in a heavy accent.
"Oui, merci," I responded, with a nod of my head. My French is a bit limited, but I can still manage with commonly known words and phrases. He looked at Fleur for quite a long time with a why-are-you-looking-at-her-when-you-could-be-looking-at-me look before walking away onto other tables.
I looked back at Fleur's table only to find that she was not there. A sudden movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention and I looked up, finding Fleur sitting straight across from me. "'Ello 'Ermione," she said in her beautiful flowing voice. "'Ow 'ave you been?"
"H-hey," I replied rather dumbly. That same gorgeous smile still graced her already stunning facial features as she observed me. I regained my composure as thoughts raced through my head. "I've been good. How about you?" How could I have not known it was Fleur? Gah! I've fallen in love with the person I hate most! Wait…love?-
"I 'ave been good also, Mon Ami. 'Ow are your two friends? Ze Weesley boy, Ronald is it, and of course 'Arry?"
Looking down, I tried figuring out what was going on in my head.
My friend? Really my friend? You barely spoke to me during the Tournament, save a greeting here and there and asking for the Boullibase! She's probably just laughing at me in her head, making fun of me! This was most likely some bet with her friends! She probably doesn't care about either Harry or Ron.
The thoughts kept racing through my head. I looked back up after a few moments and her face had misunderstanding written all over it. Maybe she really does care. So I answered her question.
"They've been good. Ron more than Harry but you probably know why." Fleur gave me a look, then nodded, most likely remembering the final task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. "He had a particularly hard time last year with Voldemort invading his mind and all. It's just good to be away from everything for…awhile." Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered the events that passed just three months ago. It hurt me to say it, but in some way I was beginning to fear for my life. I know Harry never chose this, nevertheless it's not going to be safe where ever he is. Fleur took notice in how I stopped talking.
"I 'eard about what 'appened at ze Ministry with 'eem showing up and Sirius dying. Be sure to give 'Arry my regards." I nodded, one question coming to mind.
"Are you still with Bill? N-not that I care or anything. 'Cause last I heard, you were with him and working at Gringott's," I ended lamely. I mentally cursed myself for sounding so stupid.
A soft chuckle escaped her lips. "Ah well," she started, "truth be told, Bill was a great man but I could not stand 'eem. I 'ated not knowing eef 'ee just said 'ee loved me because of my 'eritage." I nodded, Fleur being quarter veela coming to mind. "And I did work at ze Gringott's but I missed 'ome too much." I gave her a sad smile. Just the thought of leaving England where all my friends were would be horrible.
A silence broke out between us. It wasn't awkward, but at the same time, it wasn't all too comfortable, either. Why can't I get over the fact that she seemed to hate me fourth year? She's sitting across from me acting like the callousness between us never happened. What I wouldn't give to be able to hear her thoughts at this moment…
"I always thought you hated me," I blurted out. Before I could react and stutter like a mad-woman to try and cover that up, she cut me off. But not before a smile chose to make its way on her face.
"I was wondering when you were going to bring zat up," the blonde witch said, with a hint of amusement in her voice. I showed a coy smile as she went on. She took what looked to be a very deep breath before continuing. It was almost as if she was contemplating if she should, if she couldtell me her real story or not. "Time's were bad for me before zat year, 'Ermione. I spent monz trying to get over a break up. So when Beauxbations got ze news zat we would be competing in ze Tri-Wizard Tournament, I figured 'what a great way to get my mind off of 'er.'" My face was twisted and turned with confusion. Though I did notice the amusement had left her voice. "Yes, I 'ad dated a girl," she added when she saw the look on my face. The amusement was back. "Zough when we arrived, I saw a beautiful girl sitting in ze 'all."
Her smile appeared again as she continued. "She was sitting wiz a black 'aired boy and a red 'aired boy. After taking my seat at ze requested table I peered over to 'er, a scowl was plastered on 'er face. She reminded me of ze girl 'oo tore my 'eart out, or so I zought. You reminded me of 'er." My mouth was probably down to the floor by now hearing her confession.
I was about to say something, but I was cut off again. "So you see, I couldn't talk to you, look at you. Memories of 'erwould invade my mind. So eef I just ignored you zroughout ze time spent at 'Ogwarts zen I would be fine. But zen zere was ze first task, you showed up in ze tent. I forced myself not to stare at you. Dumbledore came in, and when we gazered togezer I couldn't 'elp it. I pulled my worst memories from ze back of my mind, 'oping you'd look at me. And for zat brief second, before you were to leave, I got what I wanted. I 'ad to show you I could not like you. I'd always see you 'owever. Zen zere was ze Ball. You were so beautiful zat night. I realized that shecould never be compared to you. I'd watch you some days, like Krum almost. But I'd see you wiz 'eem and I knew I could never 'ave you. I tried pushing ze zoughts to ze back of my mind, I was 'eartbroken again wiz some girl I 'adn't even spoken to!"
There was no need for her to go on. So when I thought she hated me, she really had an infatuation with me of some sort? Another bout of silence enveloped between us. Well this is a lot to take in. Does she still like me now?
The waiter came back and broke the silence as he placed my coffee on the table. "'Ere you go, Mademoiselle," he said.
"Merci." He gave Fleur a longing look. I felt my blood boil when I saw the glint in his eye. God, men are such pigs! Fleur replied by giving him a disgusted looked and he scrambled away. I mean really, he wasn't all that cute! We both laughed when we saw his retreating form enter the kitchen. Boy, it felt good to laugh, what with things changing the way they had and all. Not many people were laughing nowadays.
"So," Fleur said, "you are going into your sixz year, non?" She was obviously changing the subject.
I took a small sip of my coffee. "Yeah, I am. Harder classes, well, hopefully." Another small smile appeared on Fleur's face. I smiled back at her, but I couldn't help but frown as different thoughts came to mind. "But Hogwarts is going to be so different now." It's true, Voldemort is out in the open now, but would Dumbledore let anything happen to us? Voldemort is going to try to get Harry and everyone knows it. Am I really gonna doubt Dumbledore though?
"What are you zinking, 'Ermione?"
"Just about life back in England and how I miss my friends. But I'm going to see them soon so that's not a problem." Fleur gave me a look that said 'I know there's more going on in that head.' It's almost like she can read my mind. Or could she just read my expression? "…and…how Voldemort is going to try and harm Harry. Part of me even doubts the safety at Hogwarts of all places." A laugh escaped my lips just saying it.
"'Ogwarts is a very safe place. After spending a year zere, zat is ze conclusion I've come to. Your 'eadmaster Dumbledore, wouldn't let anyzing evil enter zat school purposely," she finished.
I laughed again. Memories of first year popped into my head. Fighting down through the different challenges with Harry and Ron only to stay and let Harry face the possessed Quirrell, but I wasn't complaining. First year now blended into second year, me being petrified and Harry fighting the basilisk, saving Ginny and defeating a memory of Tom Riddle. Then third year that was the year we all thought Sirius was a crazy mass-murderer. We spent so long believing he'd sold out Harry's parents, who would've guessed that Ron's rat was actually a person, and the real sell out to be exact. Fourth year; the year that started everything. I practically hated the girl sitting across from me...Well that's changed a lot hasn't it? I go from thinking she hated me that whole year and returning said hate, but now I know the real truth. I think I like this real truth. I smiled at these thoughts.
My memories went on as I thought about Viktor, Harry being a champion, Cedric Diggory being murdered and to top it off Voldemort returning, oh and you can't forget the whole Professor Moody imposter. Finally events of last year passed through my mind. The exact memories I tried so hard to forget. I hated seeing Harry so paranoid. Don't even get me started on Umbridge, god she was an awful woman. Hardly anyone believing Harry, the DA, the flight on the Threstrals, fighting at the Ministry, Sirius dying and Voldemort being seen by none other than the Minister himself who refused to believe he was back, all flashed through. Yeah, nothing evil got through purposely.
I spent awhile remembering the past five years. I didn't realize how much time had actually passed. Taking another sip of my coffee, it was cold. I looked up at Fleur. She had an amused expression on her face; I could tell she had been watching me as my face changed during each recollection.
"'Ow about we get out of 'ere? We can just walk around instead of being 'ere and sitting down," Fleur suggested. I nodded. Standing up I placed the money under the white coffee cup and we walked out.
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(A/N: So how'd you like it? I haven't really decided if I'll continue, there's certainly enough storyline to do so. But review and tell me and I'll happily listen!!)