A/N : Welcome to the second chapter of A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words!
I want to thank all those who reviewed with compliments and/or suggestions! I can just tell you guys are going to do wonders on my self esteem. I was happy to have such a positive response. Anyway, I'm trying to make my stories format easier to read, with shorter paragraphs and such. Let me know how you like it and I will decide whether or not to edit chapter one. Right. On with the story!
Disclaimer – Oops, almost forgot I don't own it. Now, on to the story!
Chapter 2 – Closer
Hermione stretched as she slowly woke up. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she carefully got out of the bed. She didn't want to wake Fleur after all. She padded over to the fire to stroke it and to add some wood. She lazily stretched again. Her sleep had been somewhat restless. Then again looking at who she was sleeping next to, that wasn't so strange. Looking out of the window she noticed that the blizzard was still going strong.
Shaking her head worriedly, Hermione walked into a small bathroom area. Hopefully they would have enough wood to keep the fire going. Otherwise it was going to get really cold. She finished with her morning ritual and walked out to maybe find some clothes.
The problem, she decided, would be trying to find Fleur some clothes to wear. It was a pity common decency wouldn't allow them to both continue being naked. It would be so much more enjoyable.
The other woman was taller than she was by about two inches. The only thing she found that could possibly fit was a over sized t-shirt and some pajama pants. Well, it would do until she figured something else out.
She might as well start on breakfast. Walking over to the fire and grabbing a nearby pot, Hermione went to work preparing porridge. It was one of her favorite breakfast foods.
Hermione looked over her shoulder when she heard movement on the bed. Fleur's arm came up to rub at her eyes. She smiled as Fleur slowly woke up. She enjoyed having company she realized.
"Hey, you hungry?" Fleur turned her head and looked at Hermione. Then gathering her strength she slowly sat up, wincing.
"Oui, I could eat." She managed to smile over at Hermione.
"Great. After you eat, I'll help you to the bathroom so you can clean up a bit." She did not wait for an answer, but brought over a bowl full of porridge. "Oh before I forget, I found some clothes you can wear. Remind me to give them to you later."
"I will. Zank you." Both dug into their food with relish, after realizing how hungry they really were.
Fleur leaned heavily on Hermione as she walked to the bathroom. She did feel better then yesterday, but her right leg did have a gash in it. That made it just a little difficult to walk without reopening the wound.
By the time they made it into the room both were panting from the exertion. Hermione went over to the bathtub and started to draw the water for a bath. Fleur watched from her seat on the toilet. It amazed her that someone would be willing to do all of these things for her. Especially since that someone was a beautiful stranger who didn't expect anything in return.
Hermione helped to unwrap all of Fleur's wounds, then walked her over to the tub.
"Whenever your finished call me and I'll help you out. Then we'll wrap your wounds again." Fleur nodded to show she understood.
Honestly, she was feeling kind of annoyed at having to need so much help. True she couldn't really help it, and she appreciated Hermione's help, but she was used to doing everything herself. She was independent and hated that she needed to rely on someone to do the simplest of tasks.
This in turn made her feel guilty because she knew that Hermione had saved her life. This constant conflict of emotions was tiring her out. It also didn't help that she was incredibly attracted to the other woman. She was sure that with all of her injuries and weaknesses at the moment, she could not have left a good first impression.
Fleur sighed as she continued washing the grime from her body. It just wasn't fair. She just had to meet the most attractive woman she had ever seen whenever she had no chance of impressing her. Life was so not fair sometimes.
Hermione looked over at the bed to check on the blond. Fleur had been siting on the bed for the past hour with nothing to do. She had to be incredibly bored. Hermione didn't know how to react around the stunning blond.
Everything seemed like it was fine this morning. However, she must have done something to upset Fleur. The blond was barely talking to her and seemed to shy away from her touch. That hurt her feelings somewhat. After all she didn't know what she did to upset her.
The more Hermione thought about it the less it made sense. Perhaps Fleur's behavior had nothing to do with her. After all she was never exactly a good patient when she was sick. She liked to think that she could take care of herself. Maybe that was why Fleur was upset.
In the end though it didn't really matter. The blond was going to feel however she wanted. Hermione sighed and got up. She might as well try to do something about it. After all Fleur had to be bored out of her mind just sitting there and glaring at the wall.
Hermione walked over to the chest by the wall and started to look through it. This of course garnered attention from the model currently sitting on the bed. Finally, Hermione found what she was looking for and walked over to the bed.
Fleur looked up at her curiously. Hermione smiled. Then taking a deep breath she spoke to the other woman.
"Would you like to play cards with me?" Fleur just sat there a little shocked by the suggestion. "You don't have to if you don't want to, but I thought it might be boring sitting over here with nothing to do." After thinking over the offer for a few seconds Fleur realized she was quite bored. She had just been sitting there stealing glances at the other woman from across the room.
"Oui, zat sounds like an excellent idea." Hermione smiled again as she sat down across from Fleur.
"Do you have any particular game you want to play?" Fleur looked thoughtful for a minute, but then slowly nodded her head.
"I like ze game gin rummy. Do you know how to play?"
"Yeah, I have a pretty good idea how to play. I'll deal." Hermione swiftly shuffled the deck and then dealt seven cards to both of them. Then she sat the deck down between them and turned over the top card. Both fell silent as they started to pair off the cards in their hands.
"So Fleur you mentioned you had a sister yesterday. Whats she like? Does she still live in France?" Fleur glanced up at her as she drew a card from the deck.
"Non, my sister travels with me. My parents are often away on business, so instead of leaving 'er alone, I bring 'er with me." Hermione nodded.
"Thats cool. I bet you guys are really close."
"Oui. 'ow about you. Any siblings or close friends?" Hermione sat down three queens and then looked up at Fleur.
"I don't have any siblings,but I have a few good friends. Usually though I just keep to myself. The friends I do have I wouldn't give up for anything. Perhaps you have heard of them, Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley?" Fleur looked thoughtful for a moment before her mouth fell open.
"'Arry Potter? Ze actor? And Ronald Weasley? Ze hockey player? Zey are your good friends?" Hermione laughed a little at Fleur's surprised expression.
Harry was in fact a very famous actor. He is most known for his role in a wizardry movie. He had to overthrow a dark lord or something. Ronald also had a very successful career as a hockey player. Sometimes she just forgot these facts. After all to her they were just her best friends.
"Yeah that would be them. We all went to Hogwarts Art School in Scotland. We hung out all the time and basically did everything together. We made sure to keep in touch after we all graduated." Fleur just shook her head in disbelief, but quickly got over her surprise.
"It must be nice to 'ave such good friends." Hermione heard a small trace of sorrow in Fleur's voice.
"What do you mean? Don't you have any really good friends?" Fleur shrugged and looked away from Hermione.
"It is 'ard to for moi to make any good friends. When people are friends with me zey are usually looking for one of two zings. Sex or dirt, sometimes both. People do not like me for some reason." Hermione felt bad for her new friend.
"Well, most people are probably jealous. I mean after all you have a successful job and are incredibly beautiful. Don't worry about other people,but just so you know, you can consider me your friend." Fleur blushed slightly at the compliments from the other woman.
"Merci, 'Ermione. You don't know how much zat means to me." Fleur smiled brightly at Hermione and she returned it.
The two went back to the game, talking about everything and nothing at the same time. They were amazed at how well they got along with each other. It seemed like they were old friends that have known each other forever.
About halfway through the game Hermione became distracted. Fleur had reached for a card and her t-shirt had slid down her shoulder. This naturally stole Hermione's attention from the game. Fleur didn't seem to notice.
It just wasn't fair, Hermione thought. This woman could make even a shapeless over sized t-shirt and pajama pants look like the sexiest lingerie found on the planet. No wonder she was a model.
Fleur was having a similar problem. Hermione was dressed in small black short shorts that showed off her legs, and a large t-shirt. Fleur was having difficulty hiding her reaction to the other woman. She discreetly shifted in her seat as she tried to stop thinking about what she would like to do to Hermione.
The game went on for a while with both of them laughing and telling each other about themselves. Fleur eventually won in the end. Hermione just laughed and congratulated her saying she would win next time.
They were both hungry because they had decided to skip lunch in favor of playing cards. So Hermione got up and made them both some sandwiches. They ate quietly, both lost in their own thoughts.
After they were done eating, Hermione suggested they read and relax the rest of the day. Fleur agreed, she loved to read and did so often in her spare time. They spent the time in quiet companionship. They were both happy they had met the other and hoped they could perhaps become more then friends in the future.
Only time would tell. They could tell that they were getting closer to each other. Both went to sleep that night with thoughts of the future in their head.
A/N : I hope you enjoyed chapter two of A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words! I hope you guys didn't get too impatient waiting for this chapter. I'll try to put the next chapter up in about a week.