Chapter Ten: First Task at Hand

"Viktor… Krum?" Fleur asks, as if he was someone out of this world.

Hermione on the other hand stares at the young French girl dumbfound. "Ne-new boyfriend?" she asks, almost chocking on her own spit.

Gabrielle nods happily at the two in front of her.

Fleur quirks an eyebrow at her sister. "Well this is quite," She pauses for a second to find the right words to say. "Unexpected," She gives her little sister a questioning look. "You do remember everything about yesterday right?"

Gabrielle mischievously nods. "I do,"

After a few seconds pause and knowing that her little sister will tell her about her relationship later, Fleur grins at her and says "Well then, I'm happy for you. Congratulations-" She stops as she feels something gently brush her right leg. What was- Before she has the chance to gaze down, she hears Hermione shriek and snaps her head towards her. " 'erm-" She stops as a frightened Hermione jumps and clings onto her.

"It's alright Hermione, it won't harm you," the group hears a gentle voice say from behind.

"Dumbledore," Harry exclaims as he rushes over to the group with Ron.

Gazing down at the ground, Hermione sighs in relief as she sees a fox with white fur staring up at her with black gleaming eyes, its tail tall as it waves back and forth.

"So that's what touched my leg," Fleur says to herself and chuckles as Hermione laughs nervously from embarrassment. "It's okay, I think its tail brushed our legs," she says to Hermione.

Walking towards the group, Dumbledore flashes them a warm smile and extends out his arm as the white fox rushes over to him. In one leap it lands onto the wizard's arm and runs up to his shoulder where is sits, its eyes not leaving the sight of the couple in front of it.

"What's a fox doing here?" Gabrielle asks curiously, "They don't usually appear near here,"

That is odd... Fleur stares at the fox but doesn't say anything.

"Oh her?" A grin creeps up to Dumbledore's face. "It belongs to a friend of mine," he replies, "It seems that she got curious and decided to roam around on her own," With a slight chuckle of amusement, he faces the group. "Oh but before I forget, I'm glad you all saved the trouble of me having to find you all individually. Harry, Viktor, Fleur-"

The blonde sees his eyes stopping on her and Hermione. Gazing down, she chuckles as she notices that he was trying to make sense of the status between her and the younger girl as they were so close to each other.

Dumbledore coughs nervously into his hand. "I know this may seem a bit… intrusive of me ... however, am I right to presume you both are… in a relationship?"

Fleur grins slyly and gazes down at the brunette to see her blush as she nods to his question.

"Ah, well that's wonderful!" he exclaims with jolly, clapping his hands, "Wonderful, just perfect!"

Fleur looks at the old wizard in surprise due to his reaction and chuckles.

"Thanks," Hermione says with her usual cross between a half grin and bright smile.

"Well I'm glad both of you finally got up the nerve to make a move," Gabrielle says with a hint of mischief in her voice that causes her older sister look at her suspiciously.

"Wait-what? You both are going out?" Ron cries out. "As in - a couple? Hermione and Fleur?"

Hermione looks at him in disbelief.

Ginny shot him a glare and crosses her arm, scoffing. "Are you blind and deaf?"

"No," Ron replies.

"Well you must be," Ginny retorts

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Didn't you hear what I asked them earlier?"

"Well no-"

Dumbledore coughs into his hand, ceasing their argument.

"Sorry," they both murmur.

The old wizard nods and turns his attention back to the three champions. "Alright you three, as you know the tournament starts today and it is time to go and get ready." he informs. "If you don't mind, follow me,"

Fleur glances at the Champions around her then back to Dumbledore. "Okay," she says and reluctantly pulls away from Hermione. "I'll see you later?"

Hermione scoffs but then nods with a grin on her face. "Of course," she replies, "And I'll be watching on the stands." Suddenly the thought about the danger lurking ahead of Fleur crosses her mind, turning her solemn. "Be careful okay?" She looks at Fleur curiously as her girlfriend looks at her with a shocked expression. "What's the matter?"

Fleur's gaze softens as she hears Hermione's voice. Looking over her shoulder at Dumbledore she asks him, "If it's alright, may you go ahead? I will be sure to catch up in a bit,"

The wizard smiles and nods. Motioning to the rest of the champions, he leads the group across the courtyard as Fleur turns back to the brunette before her.

"Something wrong?" Hermione asks as the other girl envelopes her in a hug.

"Nothing is wrong chere," Fleur whispers in Hermione's ear. "It's just," She leans back and softly strokes the side of her face with her fingertips. "I still can't believe I 'ave you in my life. That after the task- I 'ave someone precious to look forward to seeing," She chuckles as Hermione shyly looks down at the ground.

Taking in a deep breath, Hermione catches Fleur by surprise as she leans up and kisses her softly on the lips. She smiles to herself as she feels a hand sliding up her back and one holding the back of her head. Her senses begin to melt away as she reciprocates the gesture.

Behind her, Ron is watching them with his mouth open in shock as he stutters. "Wh-wha-they-" Ginny quickly slaps him on the back of the head to shut him up.

"So, do you believe it now? That I'm here?" Hermione asks, a bit heavy lidded when they break off the kiss and trying to catch her breath. She giggles as Fleur nuzzles her nose at the crook of her neck.

"I don't think you ever failed to take my breath away 'ermione," Fleur says with a bright smile and playful wink that sends Hermione's skin on fire.

"Hm really?" Hermione grins and then happily laughs. Tracing Fleur's shoulder with her finger, she gazes up at the older girl and motions her head to the side. "As much as I enjoy being with you, I think you should really get going."

Fleur nods and gives Hermione a light kiss on the cheek. "I'll be careful," she says to Hermione to reassure her. "And be sure to watch me from the stands,"

"Of course," Hermione exclaims with a smug smile. "And you be sure to impress me with the skills you were talking about earlier,"

Fleur grins slyly and asks with emphasis,. "Skills?"

Hermione blushes and scoffs as she lightly hits Fleur on the arm. "Fleur!" she exclaims from embarrassment.

"I'm only teasing Hermione," she says and gives Hermione one last kiss on the forehead. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to keep everything in mind," Taking one last look at Hermione and everyone else, she waves at them and rushes off.

Hermione inhales happily to herself, her heart fluttering as she watches Fleur catching up to the group. A grin forms on her face as she hears two girls giggling from behind and she turns around to see Ginny and Gabrielle trying to muffle their laughter.

"Well, that was quite a display of affection," Ginny points out, laughing as Hermione grow a tinge red.

"So it really happened huh? You're both together?" Gabrielle asks.

The brunette nods. "Yeah," she says and repeats again as if to herself, "Yeah, we are," She looks back up at Gabrielle and folds her arms. "Wait speaking of which- how about you and Vikt-" She stops as hears heavy footsteps approaching her from behind. She turns around to see Ron standing behind her with his arms crossed. "Ron…?" she asks tentatively.

"I can't believe it, you both are an item?" he says, squinting at her as if she was under interrogation.

Hermione looks at him with disbelief. After the many times she's already admitted it had he not listened? "Yes Ron, we are."

"I can't believe it," he says throwing his hands up in the air. "You and her?"

Ginny rolls her eyes. "What's so hard to believe? Because they're both gir-"

"I can't believe you got a girlfriend before me! And a hot one to top it off!" Ron exclaims.

There was silence as Hermione didn't know whether to laugh or sympathize with him. She turns to look at the two other girls and seeing their expressions burst out into laughter.

Later at the tournament, the crowd roars with anticipation as champions pace back and forth around the tent. All feeling dread at the bottom of their stomach and sweat forming in their clenched hands.

"Well I want to say I wish you all the best of luck," Dumbledore said to them as they gather around him. "And as a hint as to what your opponent is, it is a mythical creature. All collected from different countries. Now keep in mind that the goal is not to beat your opponent, but to get the golden egg located somewhere on the field," Dumbledore advises as a cannon is heard in the distance signaling the beginning of the task.

Shaking out his hands, Cedric Diggory was the first contestant to go out onto the field. His opponent being a large black coated Cerberus, a three headed dog. After a few minutes of dodging around the monster's attacks, Cedric cast off a spell that sent it drunk and retrieved the egg.

The next participant, Viktor Krum went out on the field against a red nine headed serpent. His tactic to winning was maneuvering around them which resulted in their necks becoming tangled. The third participant was Harry Potter and his opponent a phoenix. After summoning his broomstick, Harry evaded the phoenix's fire ball attacks and retrieved the egg.

Meanwhile up in the stands, an excited Ginny, Ron and Hermione let out a breath of relief and clap happily for Harry as he heads off to the side.

Now it's Fleur's turn. The brunette gulps and sits back down in her chair as the noise from the crowd dies down. Her hands unconsciously grip the sides of her chair turning her knuckles white. She eases up as Ginny wraps one of her arms around Hermione's waist giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"I'm positive Fleur will do fine," Ginny says, receiving a nod from Hermione.

"Yeah, Mione, she'll be fine," Ron chips in which earns him a smile from both girls.

"That's right Hermione, my sister is very talented, I'm sure she can breeze through this task," Gabrielle replies confidently from the seat beside her.

Hermione chuckles at the comment but mutters, "I hope so," Looking back down at the field, she doesn't see anything there. "Where's her opponent?"

Ron stands on tiptoes for a better view and scans the battlefield with his eyes as he move side to side. "I don't know, I don't see anything,"

A loud burst echo through the sky as a cannonball shot out from the barrel signaling the champion to come out. The sound causes Hermione to jump in her seat and she laughs nervously as Ginny gives her a small smile.

On the other hand, nothing but the eerie silence fills Fleur's ears as she tentatively makes her way out into the battlefield. Her blue eyes scan around to let her know there's nothing but large black boulders around her that could be used as a shield or for any attacks from her enemy.

Where's the creature? If it's a mythical one then it should be a fairly large…. But not wanting to slip up and make a mistake, she stealthily hides behind a few boulders as she tries to find the golden egg.

The sound of a small rock rolling off the side of a boulder from behind alarms her and she quickly snaps around. Her eyes squint at the sight of a brunette standing a few feet away from her.

" 'ermione?"

Author's Note: Hey everyone! I hope you've been well and thank you so much for your reviews! It continues to touch me deeply that you all like it. I truly apologize for not updating so fast (laughs nervously) I still have alot of work to do but I hope at least for now you'll be satisfied with this chapter. I will definately try my best to post up the next chapter ASAP but don't hold your breath for the next one to come out next week :)