Yes, I know, it's been longer than I said/thought. I apologize. My daily life doesn't quite give me the time to write like it used to. I'll do my best to keep up with updates and all, but I can say so much that it won't be very often. And it has been rather quiet with Harry Potter until now so it hasn't exactly been feeding me the HP-fever I need a bit to get inspiration to write.
Thanks for everyone who have been reviewing the prequel to this story, Watching the Stars. I hope you'll bare with me a bit longer with this one as well.
As what goes for the pace for this story it's gonna be faster than before. I'm not planning on writing a third part (or maybe I'll change my mind.. ) But the books this one goes through are at least the fifth and the sixth. Depending on what happens in the book seven I'll decide how far this story will go.
Thanks for the support everyone!
R&R
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Dear Hermione,
I know it hasn't been very long since we departed but I have something to tell you. I would like to tell it to you in person, so could we meet somewhere over a cup of tea? When you know the time and location could you let me know, I'll be there.
Fleur
For the umpteenth time Hermione's eyes moved across the words written on a small piece of parchment. She had written the answer back two days ago. It had been only a week since the school ended; Hermione was already missing the cool dark corners of Hogwarts' castle. The boiling hot summer air wasn't very appealing to Hermione. She found it rather hard to concentrate on anything. Hermione was lying down on her bed, holding the letter above her. It was nearing midnight; she kept the window open in the hopes of breeze of cool air. She couldn't sleep; partly because of the sweltering weather but mostly due to the set date of meeting with Fleur. She kept herself amused by counting the minutes till they would meet; her thoughts slowly wondered to the past school semester; the Triwizard tournament, Christmas holidays, the Yule Ball, late nights with Fleur…
The sound of distant alarm clock ringing slowly intruded her dreams. It took her a while to realize it was time to wake up; shoving Crookshanks off her chest she got up. She was ready in ten minutes, standing outside in the sunlight. Her trunk was packed; Mrs Weasley had asked whether she'd like to stay with them the rest of the summer. Due to an annual Dentists United conference Hermione's parents were also headed to London and promised to give her a ride.
In London, Mr Weasley was waiting Hermione with Ron and Ginny in the prearranged location. After unloading her things from the car and saying goodbye to her parents, the group started walking down the street. After a while of thinking Hermione found this quite strange; they were somewhere in London and she had no idea where nor did she know where they were headed. Ginny and Ron were talking simultaneously and Hermione had trouble keeping up with the conversation. Just when an argument was about to burst between the siblings, Mr Weasley stopped.
"Ah! This is it," he stated. Hermione looked around feeling a bit puzzled. Mr Weasley showed her a piece of parchment with an address written on it. "Read it and remember it."
After reading the lines twice, Hermione nodded. Mr Weasley set the parchment on fire, shook the ashes off his fingertips and looked around before walking to a scruffy doorway. Hermione startled at the sight of the house she hadn't noticed appearing next to her. It didn't take much time for Hermione to add things up; she soon figured out that the house was unplottable and she was burning with curiosity to know why.
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Hermione found it hard to escape from Mrs Weasley's fussing, she had to explain to her many times that she had a meeting with a friend in Diagon Alley and she was going to be late if she stayed for lunch. Mrs Weasley finally consented when Hermione promised she would eat something during the meeting. Mr Weasley suggested using Knight Bus instead of Floo Powder; he came along to show how to call the Bus and Apparated to work
Unsurprisingly the French beauty was already waiting for her to arrive. Also very unsurprisingly Hermione found herself not the only one staring at the sight in front of her. Fleur's summer attire was drawing rather lot of attention. Wearing nothing but a bikini and a skirt with flower patterns all the wizards nearby couldn't keep their eyes off her.
"Well, isn't that a sight if anything," Hermione greeted her teasingly.
"Well, it is very 'ot out 'ere, I couldn't 'elp myself," Fleur answered and took a step closer to Hermione. Trying to hug the girl she hadn't seen for a while she was soon groping the air inches away from Hermione's face.
"Not here, there might be people from my school," Hermione whispered and frowned.
"But it is a normal French 'abit to give a 'ug to a friend. Not doing so looks more suspicious." Fleur felt a bit aggravated.
"Well, we're not in France, are we? Stop making such a fuss about this. So, where'd you want to go with me?" Hermione said, glancing over her shoulders.
"You're ze one making a fuss about everything, 'Ermione. If you could just tell your friends that we—"
"No, I can't. Now, where do you want to go first?"
"I was thinking we could go to ze little romantic café in the corner but I suppose zat isn't ok either. I will let you to decide what place is suitable and unsuspicious."
"Can we not start a fight after five seconds?"
"It's you who 'as a problem, not me," Fleur said with a tinge of frustration in her voice.
"Florean Fortescue's then, if that's ok with you?"
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After a couple cups of coffee and some ice cream the conversation had become a lot friendlier and they had stopped fighting. Few hours later Fleur suggested a trip to her place where they could cook a late lunch. As they were walking towards the other end of Diagon Alley Hermione was window-shopping. She had decided to leave all the shopping till later summer. She hadn't even gotten her Hogwarts letter yet so there was no point buying anything in advance. She hadn't been past the Gringotts' Bank before; the Diagon Alley seemed a lot more peaceful the further they got. Fleur stopped in front of a building with three floors and opened the front door with a small key. The small studio was on the 3rd floor. There were some unpacked cardboard boxes stacked next to the front door. Fleur misread Hermione's curiosity for the boxes.
"Oh, don't worry. I'll unpack zem myself," she said when she walked past Hermione to the kitchen corner. While putting kettles on the stove Fleur felt familiar weight pressing against her back.
"I wouldn't mind helping out a bit," Hermione responded while smiling against the blonde's back; inhaling the faint odour of perfume. The earlier thoughts about distance growing between them vanished in a second. Fleur was there now, and for today nothing in the world could come between them.
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As a small note so I won't get beaten up for this; Dentists United doesn't really exist (that I'd know of)
I won't promise a date for the update, except it'll be after book seven's release.
Reviews are appreciated, in-depth or not. :)
