AN: Oh Ml33tninja, if only you'd waited until this chapter was posted. The build up of Jade as someone without flaw was on purpose for the build up of her character. She knows more about Veela than I've even written her knowing because of certain events that have occurred. But thank you anyways for your review :) Anyway! Ignore the typos and get ready for some darker and in depth plot in the future :D Thanks for all the reviews, faves/follows guys! I love them!
Chapter 7: Flare
Jade sat in a dimly lit, concrete dining room. It seemed the whole house itself was void of any feeling or anything other than the color grey. She sighed as she sat next to her father who was tapping his foot impatiently.
"It's like him to make us wait." Her father growled as his eyes flashed yellow and he clenched his jaw. "Calling us here like his dogs, his…pets." He spat the last word and the girl sighed. It wasn't like her father to answer anyone's call, or bring her along to his 'meetings', but here they both were, waiting for this…man he kept speaking of.
"Why are we even here?" Jade groaned as she folded her arms over her chest and rolled her eyes. "You never bring me with you, so why am I here?"
"He specifically asked for you." Thrash McHale was a tall, intimidating man. He had pale blue eyes that bordered white and hair as black as ink with a white streak starting to show on the sides. His lips were always in a hard line and his brow furrowed as if he was trying to see something in the distance. "Apparently there's something he needs you to do."
"And who says I'll do it?" The young wolf asked with a scowl. Her father growled as he peered down and Jade returned the look, defiant till the end. "I'm not his puppet. Just because you answer to him doesn't mean I will." Thrash snarled as he grabbed his daughter by the collar of her shirt and bared his teeth.
"Now, that won't do." Both McHales turned to see a tall man, sharp features with mussed brown hair. His eyes were wide, as if he were permanently in shock, but the grin on his face was of someone who was out of his mind. "We can't have any family feuds here, it would be…messy. I don't want to have to clean up after a couple mongrels."
Thrash snarled as he released Jade and lunged towards the man. Jade's blood was surging as she clenched her jaw and felt all her muscles flare at once at the insult. This man looked no better than a beggar off the streets. Who was he to insult her blood?
"Ah, ah, ah." He raised his wand and lifted the sleeve of his left arm. Jade narrowed her eyes when she saw the Dark Mark marring the pale, scarred skin. She knew her father was into the dark arts, but never knew he associated with Death Eaters. "We wouldn't want the master to hear about this, would we?" Thrash stilled as his jaw flexed and his hands clenched tightly into fists. "Good dog, now, why don't we sit down and have a little chat."
x—x
Jade's brow was furrowed as she stared past the book she was holding in her hands, the only book Hermione Granger had failed to find in the library at Hogwarts. The memory caused something to clash inside of her mind as she tried to ignore the voices echoing in her head. She wasn't good at picking sides, never had been since her parents had split, and now she was being forced. And that simply would not do.
"Are you all right?" The wolf snapped out of her thoughts as she looked up at Fleur with a flabbergasted expression on her face. "You were just…glaring at that book. Is it hard to understand?"
"Oh, no." Jade muttered softly as she shook her head and let out a deep sigh. "No, it's not, I was…just thinking."
"Well," Fleur planted her hands on her hips and raised a perfectly sculpted eye brow. "Have you figured anything out that could help me get ahold of this 'merging', or so that book calls it."
"Righ, ok." Another sigh escaped Jade's lungs as she shook her head and ran her hand through her raven locks, lifting her gaze to look at the exasperated blonde standing a few feet away, eyeing the small leather book in her hands as if it were a grindylow. "So, the book says your shift starts to happen between the ages of thirteen and sixteen. The trigger deals directly with how the Veela is feeling. So let's try this again. This time, try to think of whatever makes you angry. Like your parents, or…or Ron Weasley."
"Why would I think of that…child?" Fleur rolled her eyes and furrowed her brow as she stood up straight. "This is hopeless, Jade. I can't just…get angry for no reason." There was a thin dusting of snow on the ground as the two stood in the forest, Jade coaching as Fleur grew more frustrated.
"That's what the text says, Fleur." The wolf rolled her neck and placed her hands on her hips. "Just…get angry, Fleur. Hulk out!" The blonde raised a questioning eyebrow at the Ravenclaw who just shook her head in shame. "Just close your eyes and focus on your parents."
Fleur scoffed again as she closed her eyes and tried to trigger what made her temper rise. She thought of the letter, how angry she was when she'd read it. But no matter how hard she tried, she didn't remember changing that night. Silvery locks swished as she gritted her teeth and shook her head.
"I can't." The blonde huffed before groaning in frustration, running a cold, pale hand over her face. Her breath came out in a soft puff of fog as Jade folded her arms over her chest. "I don't remember how it happened last time, what I was feeling exactly."
"Well, your eyes are glowing." Fleur blinked rapidly. Her vision had enhanced slightly, but nothing like when she was coming down from her rage or when she was around Hermione. "If that counts for anything." The blonde just shrugged as her mind was filled with images of Hermione and her heart began to beat harder. Jade narrowed her eyes as she watched the Veela's eyes shimmer brighter and her cheeks flushed. "You all right?"
"Y-yeah." The Slytherin stammered as she combed her fingers through her hair. "Just…it's warm." Jade quirked an eyebrow at the blonde and gave her an unconvinced glare.
"Mhm." Jade hummed as she watched the part-Veela's eyes flick back and forth. "What're you thinking about?" A smirk grew on the lycan's lips as Fleur looked up, shocked expression on her blushing face.
"N-no one."
"Oh," The raven haired girl nodded, feigning understanding as she strode towards the Slytherin Prefect. "So it's a who?"
"Shut up." Fleur growled as she turned away and felt her heart hammering in her ears as everything became clearer around her.
"It's Granger, isn't it?" Jade's tone was firm as she asked and Fleur tried hard to ignore the intense heat in her cheeks as she turned away and scoffed. "Isn't it?! Fleur!"
"It's none of your business!" The blonde retorted as a large, toothy grin spread on the other Prefect's face.
"Fleur, if you like Hermione, it'd be good to know, since she's already a supposed trigger." The part-Veela groaned as she face palmed before shaking her head. This wasn't good. Besides the fact that Fleur wasn't actually one hundred percent positive that her, 'reaction', to Hermione was a crush or was because of the fluctuating changes in her emotions and mood. "So, are you gonna tell her?"
"Why would I?" Fleur turned to glare at the bright eyed wolf, who just shrugged and smirked. "It's not like I have strong feelings for her or something. And why do you care anyways?"
"Strong enough to make you react." Jade brought a finger up to tap her chin thoughtfully. "And I have my reasons why I want to help you." Fleur scowled at the girl, she always seemed to have a logical comment for all her arguments or disagreements and it got on her nerves how easily she offered a solution to Fleur's doubt. Jade had become a source of guidance, much to Fleur's chagrin, and advice the past weeks. Offering her help in trying to figure out what caused her to change days ago and how to bring her down from it.
"Shouldn't we be focusing on how I initiate my change?" The last thing Fleur wanted Jade to delve into was her surfacing feelings for the brunette, which may or may not, be caused by her Veela heritage.
"We want to learn as much as we can about you, Fleur." The Ravenclaw argued as she wagged her finger and grinned before glancing at the book. "What if Hermione is causing parts of your shift?" Fleur scoffed as she brought a hand up to her forehead and groaned. Jade chuckled and took a few steps closer until she was shoulder to shoulder with the blonde. "You do like her, don't you?"
"I don't know."
"How could you not know, Fleur?" Jade smirked as she slapped the part-Veela (gently) on the shoulder in a friendly manner, which Fleur flinched at before casting an icy glare at her. "The way you go all…stupid," Stupid? Fleur thought as she quirked an eyebrow at the wolf. "Is enough to give away that you at least feel some sort of amorous feelings towards her."
"Ugh," Fleur turned towards the girl and glared. "Do. Not. Use. ." Oh how Jade loved to poke fun at Fleur, and her getting irritated was just more incentive to not stop.
"Oh, would you rather I use a different word?" She asked innocently as she scrunched her face in thought and glanced up towards the grey sky. "How about…romantic? Affectionate? Passionate?" Fleur felt a vibration in her throat as she clenched her jaw. "Oh! I know! Quixotic! I like that word."
"You're insufferable." The Slytherin hissed as her eyes flashed slightly and Jade smirked triumphantly.
"And yet, here you stand, in my presence." The wolf mocked as she pushed the blonde towards the castle and a cool breeze brushed past them. "Maybe we should put a damper on your change and instead, focus on how your heritage affects your magic? We could work on practicing your silent spells and whatnot. Oh! Look! It says that you're going to get a 'thrall'."
"Like…a vampire?" Jade's grin fell as she raised an eyebrow at the blonde who just shrugged. "What?" The raven haired girl just shook her head and scanned the book
"It says that you're going to be giving off some sort of…I dunno…invisible haze?" The Ravenclaw shrugged as Fleur narrowed her deep cerulean orbs. "And it's going to attract the opposite sex."
"Fantastic." Fleur answered as they broke the tree line of the forest. It was Wednesday afternoon, both girls having the morning open before having to go to classes after lunch. Jade had the evening full, where Fleur only had Charms after lunch, then her evening was free.
"Fantastic because you're a lesbian," The blonde's eyes widened slightly as she gaped at the Ravenclaw who just continued to talk. "Or because you want men falling all over you like you're the best thing since the invention of the wand?" Fleur just continued to gape until her eyes narrowed into an icy stare. "What?"
"Ugh," The Slytherin groaned as she shook her head and massaged her temples. "Let's just get together later then so we can read more, ok?"
"Great, did you want to try after dinner?" Jade's blue orbs fell on glacial azure as Fleur's eyes widened slightly before she shook her head and cleared her throat. "Oh, you have some plans, Fleur?"
"I...well," She felt her cheeks burn again and she lifted her chin with a sigh. "I'm supposed to be meeting Granger for tutoring." Jade blinked rapidly before halting her movement and staring at the blonde before a smirk grew on her lips. "Please…just don't."
"All right, all right." The wolf chuckled as she started walking again to catch up with the Veela. "You know it'll all come out eventually." Fleur groaned again as Jade smirked.
x—x
The day passed slowly for Hermione, but maybe that was because she was actually looking forward to meeting up with Fleur later that afternoon. It was hard to tell lately, the blonde had been acting so odd, if Fleur was really asking for her help or just needing it. The brunette sighed as she sat out in the courtyard, the clouds over head thinning enough to let a little of the fall sun to break through.
"This year sure has been strange." She sighed to herself as she wrapped her scarf a little tighter around her neck. "A new professor that actually wants to teach us things, Sirius Black. Although, I guess it's good nothing happened on Halloween." Hermione sat up straight for a moment. Halloween had passed days ago, which meant… "Fleur's birthday!"
"What about my birthday?" Hermione whipped around and was met with a slightly curious stare from the Slytherin. She swallowed hard, why had she been speaking out loud?
"I didn't even hear you."
"One usually doesn't hear anything else when speaking to themselves." A small smile graced the blonde's lips as she took the spot next to Hermione on the bench before letting out a soft grunt as she stretched her back. "Now, what were you saying about my birthday?"
"It passed." The brunette answered as she looked away and cleared her throat. "I…did you even celebrate it?" Fleur shook her head and shrugged.
"A birthday is just a day to me, Hermione." She answered gently, although, there was a biting cold in her words that made Hermione shiver. "After I turned eleven, I didn't really want to celebrate much." Absentmindedly, Fleur began to smooth her thumb over the sapphire ring on her finger, the only present of value she actually treasured, and from someone who wasn't even blood related. "Don't dwell too much on it, I don't."
Hermione furrowed her brow, slightly worried that Fleur was so blasé about her own birthday. Her sixteenth birthday, if the Gryffindor remembered correctly. That was usually a milestone for most teenagers, but Fleur Delacour wasn't most teenagers, nor was she most girls. Although the brunette wanted to push the subject, she knew better and pulled out the books she had in her bag.
"So, I got the books translated." Hermione muttered as she handed them to Fleur. "You're going to have to interpret them from Elder Futhark, but it shouldn't be too much and once you can read them easily, you shouldn't have any more problems in Runes."
"Way to rub it in, Granger." Fleur rolled her eyes and the Gryffindor shook her head with a sigh.
"You know what I mean." She chastised gently as she shoved her hands into her pockets when a particularly frigid breeze and Fleur raised an eyebrow at the younger girl. Dark brown orbs glanced up nervously to see the Slytherin's curious stare. "What?"
"Nothing." The blonde turned away with a slight blush as she averted her gaze to the books before she opened one and cleared her throat. "You just, well, you don't have to stay out here if you're cold."
"Oh." Hermione looked down and shivered slightly. "I'm all right, I don't mind staying out here with you." Fleur cast a sideways glance at the brunette. "You know…in case you need any help." A very small, but sincere, smile graced the Slytherin Prefect's lips as she returned back to the book.
There was a very slight, yet overwhelming flutter in the brunette's chest as she inhaled sharply before deterring to her own gaze from the part-Veela. It'd been happening slowly, but something inside Hermione stirred when Fleur was nearby and she found herself questioning what she was actually feeling. It's like she was always apprehensive around the Slytherin, as if she was paying more attention to what she said or what she did. It was very unlike her.
Both girls sat comfortably in silence for a few moments before Fleur sighed and shut the book. Hermione looked up from her own History of Magic book to glance at the blonde. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear before massaging her forehead.
"How's it going?" Fleur just groaned as she shut her eyes and sighed. The blonde looked more than done with the work as she closed the book and exhaled slowly. "That bad, huh?"
"Well," The Slytherin muttered as her hand made its way down her face. "I'm interested, if that makes it any better. But that doesn't seem to help my desire to actually do any runes work."
"Slowly, but surely." Hermione smiled as Fleur offered a tired, yet small smile and managed to exhale a small chuckle.
Fleur glanced down at Hermione and felt her heart skip a beat as she watched the younger girl tuck a stray wave behind her ear as she fiddled with the gloves on her hands. It was strange, she'd never noticed the brunette before besides the fact that she was Harry Potter's friend. Now, it was like she was seeing her in direct light for the first time.
The first time she'd seen Hermione was in her third year and the girl was known as the 'insufferable-know-it-all', via Snape. Which, Fleur found out to be marginally true. Her hair was a mop of tangled frizz and she had an arrogant air about her until the incident at Halloween and the troll. A soft chuckle escaped the blonde's throat and Hermione glanced up to look at her.
"What?"
"I was just thinking back to your first year." The part-Veela answered as she turned to look down at the brunette who raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Your little, fiasco, with the troll." Hermione groaned and rolled her eyes.
"And here I thought people would've forgotten about that by now." Hermione mumbled as she shook her head.
"It's a bit hard to forget." Fleur smirked. "I mean, a first year going after a troll? You must've been pretty confident."
"Actually," The Gryffindor began to fidget with her scarf and averted her gaze to the ground. "It wasn't exactly like that. I was in the bathroom hiding from, well, everyone."
"Why is that?" The blonde raised an eyebrow and turned slightly towards the younger student. "Was your hair not cooperating that day?" Fleur laughed when Hermione shot her a glare and her cheeks pinked ever so slightly.
"My hair didn't cooperate for the whole year, but no." Hermione replied with a small huff before looking away from Fleur. "Ron had said, something, that was a little hurtful and I ran to hide from them." The blonde felt a small surge of anger towards the red head as her eyes hardened when she saw the sadness flash across the girl's face.
"Why do you care about the opinion of that Weasley?" Fleur asked with a hint of ice in her tone. "He's moronic."
"Well," The brunette continued as she looked up into the sky in thought. "I've never had many friends growing up and Harry and Ron were really the only ones I had. So when he said what he did, it hurt." Fleur nodded slightly before moving a little closer to Hermione and sighing.
"If it makes you feel any better," The blonde's voice was abnormally gentle as she followed Hermione's gaze to the grey sky. "I didn't, well, I don't have many friends either. I never thought it was important."
"You and Jade seem close." Fleur scoffed as Hermione looked over at her and blinked a few time as the blonde scowled.
"Circumstance has brought us together, I suppose." The Prefect shrugged as she ran a hand through her silvery blonde locks. "I don't know, but we've just never gotten along. We are too competitive it seems."
"She can be rather…" Hermione tapped her chin in thought and hummed.
"Bothersome?" Fleur offered and the brunette shot her a glare. "What?"
"She's curious." The brunette continued as she shrugged. "I mean, she seems nice enough, but at the same time she has this mysterious demeanor. I've seen her partial shift before, but other than being a lycan, I don't know much else about her."
"She's rather arrogant." The Veela groaned as she folded her arms over her chest. "Regardless of her intelligence and appearance, I feel she belongs in Slytherin more than I do."
"You really don't like her." Hermione giggled softly as Fleur furrowed her brow in confusion. "You two are a lot alike though."
"Please," Fleur shook her head and Hermione chuckled again. "Don't say that." A small smile spread on the blonde's lips when she heard Hermione laugh and shook her head. Despite the cold, they both spent another good hour in comfortable silence, just enjoying each other's company.