It was 10 in the morning. Hermione was up for three hours now, much earlier than her usual in a Saturday. But if there was no point trying to sleep the night before there certainly was no point in trying to go back to sleep when she first woke up. So she took a got out of bed and took a long shower, washed her hair, turned on some music and happily did her nails while jamming to the sound of Glee's "Halo/Walking On Sunshine", one of her many guilty muggle pleasures.
She enjoyed living by herself. It was lonely at first but now she felt free to take a much needed break from the world and just relax. She kept seeing her parents and friends almost daily, but this was a place of her own.
And on her own she was now, staring at her cell phone. It has been five minutes. She was repeating over and over to herself that this was silly. There is absolutely no reason to be nervous at all! She didn't ask me out on a date. I'm the one calling her. This isn't a date. We're friends. But we could be more than friends. I mean, we could just deepen our friendship. Just because she likes girls doesn't mean she likes me. I don't even like her in the first place. I mean, I like her. But I don't really like like her… Fuck this is silly.
She recalled her meeting with Fleur Delacour the day before.
They were both lost in their minds, walking hurriedly towards opposite directions until they bumped into each other.
"I am so sorry!" Hermione apologized before even looking up to see who hit her. The book she was reading was thrown in the floor and she reached for it.
"Non, it was my fault!", the woman got down to pick up her book as well, causing them to almost hit their heads. They then looked at each other, both going silent with shock as realization sunk. Fleur Delacour looked absolutely beautiful. She was wearing a white dress with a black belt up in her waist, followed by black tights, long brown boots (matching her big brown scarf) and a dark blue overall. It was a simple chic, as one could expect from a French. She had her hair down and it was kind of messy after the collision.
Hermione repressed a sigh and immediately felt very self conscious about her dress code. She had a long grey sweater, jeans and white boots with a silver scarf. It was pretty comfortable and she didn't expect to run into no one of interest. Not that Fleur was anyone of interest.
"Mon Dieu! Hermione Granger, it's been so long!" Fleur was the first one to break the staring, she was suddenly smiling and hugging the brunette, kissing her in both cheeks before she could even respond.
"Y-yeah! Yeah! It's been a long time." Hermione responded, trying to shake the little burning in her cheeks, "How are you?"
"I'm good, I'm good! I was in France these past months, you know? Just came back! I 'ave missed my family greatly."
"Yeah, I can imagine. But what are you doing here? I mean, not London, I mean here, here." Hermione mentally slapped herself in her head. She used to have this absurd crush on Fleur ever since they met five years ago.
"I rented an apartment two blocks away from here! I figured since I'm working at Jiffinger's might as well live next to Diagon's Alley, non?", the blond said with a smile, looking absolutely delighted to see Hermione.
"Oh really? Well I myself live right around the corner. Seems like we're neighbours, huh?"
"No shite! What a coincidence! We're going to have catching up to do! Oh, but I am so rude! I didn't ask you how you've been, dear", Fleur was still smiling broadly and the way she said shit made Hermione giggle.
"I've been good! I'm working for Hogwarts for a research", Hermione told her.
"Why is zat I'm not surprised?", the Delacour said raising an eyebrow.
"I know, unexpected. Hmm. I've moved recently too, but maybe I can help you find some places around here", the brunette said, trying to show some good manners. She had learned that the lady in front of her was actually nice while she dated Ron and got to see her quite frequently in Weasley's family reunions.
"Oh oui! That would be very nice of you. But maybe some other time? I'm terribly late for breakfast", Fleur said, her smile faltering a little when she looked at her clock.
"I see, but… Hm, I was on my way to get breakfast as well. Would you like to come?", Hermione was a little nervous. They had met each other so abruptly and she wasn't really the type that called people out, even if it was only breakfast.
"Oh, I don't see why not. Where is the place?", the blonde said returning to smile. Hermione found it quite distracting.
"Just two blocks away. They have excellent croissants, I think you'll like it"
"Dear, I just came back from Paris. They better be magnifique!"
Over their breakfast, Hermione explained to Fleur all about her new work, which involved a research over domestic elves and writing a whole thesis defending their liberty. Fleur was well aware of her feelings about the subject but was impressed nonetheless. They had a very interesting discussion about magical creatures and their rights. Fleur, being part Veela, had also a very heated position on the matter and it fascinated Hermione to be able to talk about it with someone who actually was interested – and was so interesting herself. The french also told her about her new work, which revolved around doing some personal security charms at a private firm.
On the other hand, the younger lady heard that Fleur was getting a divorce from Bill. She already knew about that, Ginny had told her, but she didn't think it would sound too good to say something like: Yeah, your ex sister in law was kind of glad it didn't work out so she told me as soon as she knew.
"I'm really sorry, Fleur", was all she managed to say.
"Don't be. It just didn't work out, you know? It was mostly my fault, anyway", the blonde took a sip of her coffee, muffling a little her last sentence. It almost sounded like she didn't want to say it.
"Oh, don't say that. These things happen," Hermione didn't even know what kind of things happen in a marriage, but she was sure sometimes things just don't work out. It annoyed her that she didn't actually feel sorry for their separation. She actually felt guilty when the thought crossed her mind.
"I suppose they do. Sometimes a man marries a lesbian, non?", the brunette, who was also drinking her coffee because she didn't actually have something nice to say in the matter, spat it all over the remaining of her bread. She was suddenly very aware of how red she was, specially after realizing she had spat over Fleur's scarf as well.
"Oh holy fuck, I'm so sorry!", Hermione was up, trying to clean up the scarf.
"I zink it's the first time I hear you swear, dear!", the Delacour was highly amused and smiling broadly.
"Oh, please. Let me clean that off," the younger responded, but as she was loosing balance over the table, her hand quickly slipped to Fleur's breasts. It was only a second before she backed off and seated again. "Er… Sorry. Maybe you should try it."
Fleur took the napkin and started mindlessly cleaning her scarf. It was barely visible, seeing it was brown as well.
"So… hm… You're gay?", Hermione was having a hard time processing this piece of information. Fleur Delacour was positively the most attractive woman she had ever met and it never even crossed her mind that perhaps she wasn't into men. It just didn't seem like it. Maybe a little, because she was always surrounded by her female friends but they were only friends, right?
"Oui. I thought I was bisexual, you see? Veelas or part veelas mostly are. And I love Bill, I do. But I just can't make myself feel attracted to him sexually as I feel about women", her response was clear. Fleur might have been playing in her head how she would tell her british friends this, specially since almost all of them were also friends with Bill, but being frank honestly seemed like the best option. She had a particular curiosity about Hermione's reaction.
"Oh. Yeah. I, hm, I see. Uh… Sorry about my uh, overreaction. It was really out of the blue", the brunette was feeling her cheeks get a little red, she was not used to people talking so freely about sexuality or any sexual matter. She didn't take much time to think about those kind of things as any normal teenager, she felt guilty whenever she did so. After all, she had to help Harry Potter saving the world. It just never seemed fair that she kept her mind busy with much other than that or school, when they were at school that is.
"C'est ne pas un problem," Fleur knew her friend understood the basics of her mother tongue because they had little conversations in french sometimes, so she went on, "Je te comprends. We never spoke about it and… oh! Would you look at that! It's almost 9 o'clock! Time flies when we're having fun, non?"
"Yeah. Yes, it does! I'm running late too…", Hermione wasn't actually late, she did her on research, she could get into the library anytime she wanted. But she didn't want the older lady to think she didn't have anything better to do. "We'll see each other soon, I guess."
"I was hoping we could go out tomorrow?", Fleur asked but in a tone that it seemed much more like an affirmation, "We have so much to talk about! And since… Get your hand off of your purse, Ms. Granger. Since I'm paying for our breakfast, you could take me to the karaoke bar I've seen before running into you."
Hermione was blinking, slowly doing what she was told. Is Fleur flirting with me? Then she giggled. Fleur is flirting. Flirting with me.
"What eez so funny?", the lady in front of her raised a brow once again, feeling slightly nervous and letting her accent slip.
"Nothing. Okay. We can go to the karaoke. But I'm a terrible singer."
"I don't think I'll mind. I intend to get very drunk, you see?", the blonde was smiling again, paying for their breakfast.
"I'll pay for you to be drunk, then. But… I don't know where you live and I don't have your number", Hermione added half blushing. She didn't exactly know how to ask for Fleur's number or address without making it look like she was a guy hitting on her.
"Oh, oui. Here's my number," Fleur handed her a blue card with her name on it, her address for owls and her phone for good measure, "It amazes me how many witches and wizards use cell phones these days, it is certainly practical. We should have invented one of these earlier."
"Yeah, I guess we should. Many won't use it because it's a muggle thing. I think it's brilliant, of course. Technology is just another kind of magic," Hermione didn't know how to say goodbye so she just stood there, between her friend and the street.
"I agree. Dear, listen, I really have to go, but call me and we'll see each other tomorrow, oui?", Fleur said and before she had a response, hugged Hermione holding her shoulders and kissed both her cheeks again.
"Yes, I definitely will," Hermione smiled in a very subtle mischievous way and waved goodbye as Fleur headed for the bathroom, going to disaparate.
So there she was. She was staring at her cell phone for 15 minutes. Okay, that's enough, I'll call her right away. So she did. It ringed once. It ringed twice. It ringed three times…
"Hello?", came the voice from the other side. It sounded rather sleepy.
"Uh… Hello, Fleur? This is Hermione. I'm so sorry. Did I awake you?", Hermione was suddenly nervous, she hadn't realized that maybe Fleur would be asleep.
"Non, non. Salut. I mean, yes, you awoke me but it's okay. Good morning.", a few blocks away Fleur was rubbing her eyes, trying to get her head to work.
"Oh. Sorry. Good morning. I was uh, thinking maybe we should set what time we should meet? I can pass by your place since I know where you live", the brunette was still unsure but she was determined not to let it show.
"Oui, oui. How about 10 pm? From what I've heard last Saturday people only start getting drunk and singing past eleven anyway", Fleur looked at her clock and sighed. She was going back to sleep as soon as she hung up the phone. She was having a very nice dream.
"Sure. Okay. It's a date then."
"Is it?", Hermione could almost see Fleur smirk through the phone. She smiled, but kept silent. "It is then, I'll see you in twelve hours. À plus!"
"À plus, Fleur" This isn't silly. It isn't silly at all. Hermione Granger now could almost listen Silly Love Songs playing in her head. So she decided to play it on her iPod.