A/N: Two words guys, artistic and license. Please don't correct me unless I've been an utter twit, most of its intentional. Honest! Sorry this chapter is kind of boring but (unless you like reading four paragraphs about hair of course) but it needs to be done, I mean Harry's always getting makeovers, I figure its Hermione's turn.
Fallen- Seether
She's wearin' dresses on the borderline
(lookin good)
Awaking senses that were lost in time
(make amends)
This liberation is the one they'll love for ages
(hey man I see them comin' again)
Just cut those dresses make you look so fine
(you're a ten)
Put on that shirt and you'll look so divine
(i'm impressed)
You're much too pretty you don't need your mind
(just pretend)
Just bat them eyelids get your heart's desires
A resurrection of the shallow and the vapid
(hey man I see them comin')
Hermione watched Harry depart from the train station, unceremoniously dragged by the ear, by his uncle, whom she had come to despise. He did not struggle, it was useless, and instead he let himself be pulled away with a sad smile on his face and a wave on his hand.
She did not pretend to understand what he was going through, Hermione was no stranger to grief, but there was something else in his emerald eyes, ever since the fight at the ministry, it looked a little like guilt, as though it was his fault.
Hermione only turned back to the Weasleys after the Dursleys were completely out of sight. Ron smiled as Mrs. Weasley pulled her into a hug "Fleur's going to be so excited to have some girls more her age to take shopping, I'm glad your parents agreed to let you stay, your part of the family now" both Ginny and Hermione winced; Fleur was not their favourite person in the world.
"Yeah 'Mione, maybe we should dye your hair red, then you'd really be one of us huh?" Ginny snorted in amusement at the absurdity of his idea, Hermione blushed under Ron's scrutiny for a minute. "I guess your right, she doesn't have the looks to carry of Weasley red" he conceded, which earned him a punch from Hermione. "You wound me woman" he pretended to stagger around clutching his arm. Ginny slapped her forehead at her brother antics.
Molly Weasley rolled her eyes, "gather round, grab on to the port key dears" she said encouragingly, brandishing a garishly striped sock. They all grabbed on and where whisked away in a swirl of coloured lights to the Burrow. They landed in a rather inelegant heap near the front door. Hermione was shocked to find herself pinned to the floor by Ron in a compromising position; they stared at each other blushing for a moment, his piercing blue eyes meeting her soft hazel ones. "Oi get a room you two" yelled one of the twins; Hermione had no idea how to tell them apart and had given up trying. They both scrambled up blushing and made a big show of dusting of their robes.
Ginny dragged Hermione up to their shared room, and they idly chattered about the previous year as they unpacked. "What do you want to do this summer then?" Hermione asked Ginny; although they were good friends they didn't have much in common. Hermione planned to spend most of her time with Ron, although it became more and more likely he wanted to spend all his summer playing quiditch with his brothers, as their excited yells from the garden became louder. " well I figured you'd be busy studying for lots of it, I guess we can do some shopping, maybe we can teach you to fly, that would be awesome…" she trailed off watching the match continuing in the garden. Noticing they were short of a seeker Ginny turned to Hermione "you don't mind if I go play do you? You could come and watch" Ginny asked brightly.
After assuring Ginny she was fine and had a book to read, Ginny left happily, leaving Hermione to collapse, relieved not to be forced to play, on her bed with Hogwarts a History. She turned the page with a sigh, she was in for a quiditch orientated summer, she could tell.
Hermione jumped and pulled out her wand, not that she was allowed to use it, when someone knocked on the door. She immediately relaxed when she realised it was only Fleur, Hermione took a moment to take in the part-Veelas ethereal beauty. Although Hermione looked disapprovingly at her low cut shirt and short skirt, she couldn't help but be a little jealous, she wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. What did she want? Hermione checked her watch, it was nowhere near dinner time, and everyone else seemed occupied with the game, either playing or avidly watching.
"Ah, Hermione, I 'ave been looking for you!" Fleur exclaimed after a moment in heavily accented English, pulling Hermione into a hug that smelled strongly of a clingy perfume. "You ave no idea what I 'ave been through, zat Mrs. Weasley knows nothing of fashion and Bill is away ze 'ole summer, we're going to have so much fun" she smiled. Hermione began to panic, she was probably the only girl on earth who shared less in common with Fleur than Mrs. Weasley, her two best friends were boys, and it wasn't like fashion was one of Luna and Ginny's favourite topics either.
"...er I'm glad to see you too, but I really don't know that much about fashion…." Hermione was trying to tactfully tell Fleur she had better things to do with her time, unfortunately for her, Hermione's attempts at diplomacy failed abysmally. "That's okay, I vill teach you, you shall be my, how do you say eet… my prodigy". Fleur stood appraising Hermione for a second, taking in the battered jeans and baggy t-shirt. Her frown grew the longer she stared. Hermione began to shift and blush under her gaze; sure she was imagining her as a mini Fleur.
Fleur's gaze became calculating as she circled around, suddenly it brightened as a plan formed in her head, "first ve must fix zis bush on your 'ead" she grabbed Hermione's wrist and dragged her to her girly abode, on the floor above. At first Hermione was dazed by all the pink, in one corner a dressing table was crammed full of potions and makeup, the bed was barley visible through piles of cushions in shades of pink varying from pale baby pink, to a shocking magenta, the wardrobe looked to be overflowing and an assortment of dresses were hung from its top.
Fleur pushed a reluctant Hermione into a quilted chair with gold edges, she was sure this stuff had been brought over from France; Mrs. Weasley would never have bought Fleur half of this stuff, "now just relax while I work my magic" Fleur said in what Hermione though was supposed to be a reassuring voice. For the next three hours Hermione sat there trying to decipher the lyrics to the obscure band that Fleur had put on, it almost drowned out Fleur's despairing mutters, but not quite.
The first half hour was taken up by brushing its considerable mass with a small comb. Eventually Fleur became so annoyed at Hermione's protests and wiggling she put her in a full body bind, oblivious to Hermione's pleading eyes "it for your own good, imagine if you jogged my 'and, eet would be a disaster!" horrific amounts of dark blonde hair fell to the ground, and Hermione became more and more panicky, one of her eyes began to twitch uncontrollably, what could be so important as to warrant a full body bind, she couldn't even see what Fleur's was doing to her hair for Christ sakes, it could be fuchsia for all Hermione knew.
After another hour of Fleur's struggling she relinquished her hold on the scissors and moved over to her dresser where she examined the labels of various bottles. She debated the merits of two different shades of blonde for a while, deciding upon a pale honey blonde with highlights and a few bleached streaks. She also picked up a smaller bottle Hermione couldn't read the label of the writing was so small. Hermione gulped, this could not be good.
Using her wand Fleur wet Hermione's hair with jets of lukewarm water using another charm to make sure the water stayed in place, she applied the small green bottle first, rubbing it in and leaving it for fifteen minutes while she read Hermione an article about the precise shade of midnight blue that was all the rage in Paris. Were it not for the full body bind, Hermione was sure she would have vomited.
After rinsing out the first potion Fleur added the streaks of dye and wrapped the strands of, now perfectly straight hair, in pieces of tin foil. She lazily used her wand to heat them with hot air. After making sure it was completely dry Fleur released the body bind and summoned the mirror, Hermione gasped, her hair hung in a bob ending just below her shoulders, a fringe swept to one side, framing her heart shaped face perfectly, surprisingly it was poker straight, there were no signs of its previous frizz. However the biggest difference by far was the shade of blonde, it was nowhere near the white colour of Fleur's, but it was a lighter shade of blonde with no hints of the mousy brown it had been before, a few sections of paler blond stood out.
Hermione gasped, "How did you do this? I've tried every potion there is to tame my frizz! And how are you so good at styling hair anyway" she asked Fleur excitedly.
"Ah well I do all my sisters 'air and the potion I used is a French secret, it vill magically straighten your 'air for up to four months, I vill order some more for you, for when you go back to 'ogwarts, now stand up so I can measure you, some of my old clothes may fit you" she looked at her outfit in disgust for a moment before banishing it with a wave of her wand, leaving Hermione in her childish frilly underwear, she shook her head even more when she realised what Hermione's choice of underclothing was, "zat will ave to go as vell of course, ve can go shopping tomorrow" Fleur reasoned.
Hermione flushed red, frozen to the spot, and grabbed at a pink fluffy blanket to protect her modesty with. "Fleur" she hissed desperately, "is this really necessary?" "Ah I 'ad forgotten how prudish you English people were, but don't worry, we are like sisters, no?" Fleur enveloped Hermione in an awkward hug. Well, Hermione reasoned, it was the done thing in France, Fleur had probably seen worse. A measuring charm later, Fleur began to unshrinking the dolls sizes clothes in the trunk at the foot of her bed. Hermione didn't even want to think about how many outfits lay in that trunk, probably more clothes than she had ever had in her life.
Hermione was soon almost buried in a pile of clothing; she became slowly more and surer that this had been a big conspiracy on Fleur's part that she had conveniently "grown out" of so many clothes so recently. After being lectured on the rudimentary basics of how to put an outfit together Fleur had wrestled her into a pair of pale blue jeans far tighter than Hermione was used to and a deep blue jumper that was soft to the touch.
"Now, read a book while I go through your clothes to see what you already have that wearable, I may 'ave to take them outside so I can levitate 'zhem around." Flumping back on her bed Hermione began to pursue Hogwarts a History once again, she was sure if she read it enough, eventually she would be able to remember it off by heart. Fleur helped herself to the wardrobe and replaced all of Hermione's old clothes with the new ones, for some reason she didn't seem to concerned that there wasn't space for the old clothes left.
The time past quickly for Hermione, and she only interrupted her reading once to check through the window that Fleur wasn't making a bonfire of her clothes, but she just seemed to be harmlessly levitating them and placing them into various piles. The Weasleys finished their quiditch game, just as the sun was setting, and they called Hermione down for supper, which turned out to be a groaning picnic table laden with everyone's favourite foods.
Ron took a seat next to Hermione and started loading his plate, he glanced at Hermione "it's a shame Harry isn't here huh" he said through a mouthful of food. Ron dropped his fork and did a double take, blushing when Hermione politely coughed to draw attention to the fact he was staring. His ears turned red as he asked "have you changed your hair or something 'Mione? It looks good". "Fleur did it, it's so nice to have straight hair for a change, here feel it, its really soft" Hermione replied overly enthusiastic that he liked it.
The twins almost choked as Hermione ran a lock of her hair across Ron's cheek. "Guys" said Fred or maybe George, "what did we tell you about…" said the other twin "…getting a room" they finished in unison, it was freaky how they were able to do that so well, she would have to look into twin bonds Hermione though distractedly. She quickly looked down, her ears matching Ron's, and became overly fascinated by a lump of homemade bread.
The rest of the meal past in idle chatter, until desert, a rich creamy strawberry ice-cream. "Hey, where's Fleur?" Ginny asked looking puzzled. He query was quickly followed by a loud shriek that had the Weasley males covering his ears at its pitch. The elder Weasleys rushed towards where Fleur's cries were coming from, wands drawn.
They all arrived to the back of the garden to find a pile of smouldering clothes, and Fleur angrily stamping out the last of some nasty looking green flames. "I am so sorry Hermione, I don't know vat happ'nd, I tried to move the pile and I must 'ave flicked my wand vrong" she exclaimed innocently. Hermione flumped down on the grass in shock, Fleur had burnt her clothes, "ah do not worry my leetle sister, we will go shopping tomorrow and you still 'ave clothes I gave you zis evening yes" Ron pulled her up and walked her up the stairs to her room.
"I don't get why your so upset 'Mione, there only clothes" said Ron as they sat down on her bed and noticed her wracking sobs, "you don't get it, those clothes held so many memories, the socks I was wearing when we defeated fluffy, the burn mark from you trying to learn wingardium leviosa, the dress I wore to the Yule ball, the hat we used to store snowballs and ambushed Snape with" Hermione spluttered desperately. Ron gathered her in his arms laughing "'Mione those clothes don't hold memories, they're all in here" he said pointing to her temple. Hermione's sniffled pathetically in response. "C'mon 'Mione, we'll get you new stuff tomorrow, Fleur's paying of course", they dissolved into helpless fits of giggles.
Ron eventually left after much plotting of Fleur's downfall, or at least bankruptcy. Ginny came in and hugged Hermione good night, and Ginny soon fell asleep. Hermione lay awake thinking about what she could buy tomorrow, new underwear, new school robes and maybe some nice shoes. It had been a while since she'd been shopping and seeing as Fleur was paying…
Just as Hermione's eyelids were drooping closed, it had been an eventful day, Ginny began to let loose hideous snores. At first Hermione tried to ignore them. She put her hands over her ears and her head under the duvet. But Ginny's snores were so extravagant she was soon tossing and turning in frustration. It was going to be a long night.
In the morning Ginny hopped down the stairs enthusiastically, followed by a not-so-bushy-tailed Hermione. She had huge bags under her eyes and her movements were slow. Mrs. Weasley eyed her worriedly, "what's the matter dear? Couldn't sleep?" Hermione allowed Mrs. Weasley to bustle around fussing over her and drank copious amounts of black coffee. When everyone had eaten their vast quantities of toast and porridge, including a shame faced Fleur, they lined up near the fireplace so they could floo into the Leaky Cauldron.
As soon as they arrived Fleur dragged Hermione enthusiastically by the hand into the sunny street, not even giving her a chance to finish brushing the soot off. The first shop they visited was, of course, Madam Malkins. Fleur swiftly shoved Hermione unceremoniously into a changing room on the third floor, ignoring her feeble protests. "bu..but how am I supposed to pick clothes and underwear and shoes and things if I'm in here?" Hermione begged. "Don't be silly Hermione, I vill pick for you" and she frolicked off happily with a slight manic grin. Hermione started to panic, Fleur didn't exactly know the meaning of subtle, and she had never seen someone actually frolic before.
After what seemed like an hour to a panic stricken Hermione Fleur returned with a distressed looking sales assistant holding a mountain of clothes. Hermione started to look for exits she could escape from as Fleur started to advance on her. "Right try on ze underwear I guessed your size so eet might be a little out…" Hermione let out a squeal as Fleur started to grab at her clothes. "I can do it" she yelped almost hysterical. Fleur raise a quizzical eyebrow at her "do you vant me to body bind you again?" she threatened. Hermione meekly let her undress herself.
A few minute later Hermione was staring in shock at her reflection; she was torn between been horrified at how scandalously revealing the underwear was and admiring how good she looked. Taking her by surprise Fleur pounced for another hug and ruffled her hair "ah who's would 'ave thought, me little 'Mi all grown up with cleavage and everything" Hermione poked Fleur playfully, secretly pleased.
Hermione was forced to try on clothes for the best part of the day, and although she grumbled at Fleur she secretly liked the attention, her mother has never had girl's days out with her before and most girls tended not to like her. She was surprised by most of the clothes Fleur picked for her, they were more to Hermione's tastes than she would have expected; sexy in an understated way that made her look mature, not at all like Fleur's own style, in you face sexuality, with acres if cleavage and perfectly toned legs on display. The colours were carefully thought out to compliment her own colouring, although Fleur despaired at her lack of tan when she inspected her. "ve vill 'ave to fix zees" she exclaimed exasperatedly poking Hermione's milky white skin. "You can do some sunbathing with me...And look at zis she" she said with a worried expression, poking her slightly curving stomach "you villa 'ave to start doing yoga with me in the mornings!" Hermione walked out of the store plotting ways to kill Fleur without getting caught.
Three weeks later
Hermione was panting as she contorted herself into one of the insane yoga poses Fleur had been instructing her in, ''alf moon' Fleur had called it. Fleur insisted they woke up at the ungodly hour of 5am of every day to do an hour's yoga. After Hermione had given up on her attempts to kill her in her grouchy morning haze, Fleur's reflexes were freakishly fast, Hermione assumed it was a veela trait. There had been a number of embarrassing incidents, where Ron had walked in on Hermione in an awkward position in a leotard, which he had kindly never mentioned again, so Hermione had begged Fleur to put up privacy charms.
Fleur gracefully arced one leg, absentmindedly checking Hermione's posture out of the corner of her eye. Fleur had already noticed a vast improvement in Hermione. Although most of her spare time was still spent reading her previous bad posture had improved from the yoga, and she was gradually becoming toned and graceful, walking more like a dancer than the frumpy schoolgirl she had been. However the most marked improvement was in her confidence, she held her head high, not shying away from people and hiding behind her hair. Hermione had also taken to teasing Ron ruthlessly; Fleur knew it was just a matter of time before they started being more than friends.
Fleur smiled smugly to herself, giving herself a mental pat on the back for her plan working even beyond her expectations. "by 'ze way 'ermione I vas speeking with Molly and she mentioned 'Arry might be coming to stay, maybe ve can all go to the beach in France, I'm sure my dad wouldn't mind us using the holiday house". Hermione toppled over with a loud shriek at the mention of Harry. He hadn't replied to any letters other than to say he was fine and both Ron and Hermione were starting to get a little anxious at the lack of news.
That evening Ron, Hermione and Fleur stayed up into the early hours of the morning planning their trip, Fleur would work on convincing the Weasley matriarch that she was a responsible adult and her family would be around should anything happen beyond her capabilities. Hermione would be in charge of travel arrangements; booking the international floo, packing lists and supplies. It was agreed Ron's job would be to write to Harry, inviting him and keeping him up to date with the plans.