Fleur stayed behind. She wanted to talk to Hermione. Ginny was there, looking at her and obviously fighting a grimace. The younger girl looked at her friend and slightly nodded, she passed Fleur quickly. They were finally alone. Well not exactly, the girl's friends were upstairs apparently arguing.
"Fleur!" She snapped back to reality and smiled at the girl.
"'ermione, 'ow are you going?" She felt her stomach flutter a bit.
"Fine! And you?" Her voice had the power to make her heart skip a beat.
"Awesome!" Beaming at Hermione, she stepped closer to her. "'ow did you find ze book?"
"Oh, Fleur! It's awesome! Thank you so much! The writer…"
"Oui, eets my fazer." Fleur smiled at Hermione. "'e says he can sign your copy eef you want…"
"Wait! You mean that copy is mine?"
"Well, of course!" She said laughing at the other girl's demeanor.
Beaming, Hermione pulled her outside by the hand. She couldn't keep herself from beaming too. They joined everyone outside. About half an hour later, Harry and a frowning Ronald joined them. Fleur started wandering what happened upstairs. Something very awkward was happening. As the rest of the members of the Order arrived, that thought slipped from her mind. It was a pleasant night, meeting everyone after that terrible battle was surprisingly good. The lighter mood was obvious and Fleur wished Gabrielle could be there to meet so many important people, so many important pieces of her life there, in England. She noticed that not only the official member of the Order were there, but some of the older DA members were invited too. They were all gathered retelling stories to each other, but mostly to the Golden Trio. Not wanting to intrude their conversation, she made sure Bill would keep her entertained.
"Fleur, just go talk to her."
"No. She need to catch up wiz 'er friends."
"She will be able to talk to them in Hogwarts. That's definitely something you won't, even with the reports."
"Later" She narrowed her eyes and Bill smirked, knowing he had partially changed her mind.
When dinner was served, Molly instructed everyone to look for their names on the table. Bill gave her a knowing smile. "What did you do, Bill?"
"Nothing, dear. Nothing." As they moved closer to the long table, he motioned to a specific part of the table. "Your name is over there."
After finding her name, she noticed Hermione give her parents, who were seated next to Molly and Arthur, a hug and start searching for her name. When Molly saw what the younger girl was doing, she motioned the direction Fleur was. Fleur had found her seat rather quickly because Bill had indicated the right seat so she didn't feel the need to acknowledge who would seat next to her. Seeing Molly point at her general direction, Fleur quickly read the neat handwrite, that was obviously Molly's, on the place cards next to her. Wide-eyed, she looked at Bill who was smirking contently. Before She could say anything to the men in front of her, Hermione found her way to her side and sat down.
"Hello, Fleur!" In Fleur's opinion, the girl smile had become even more beautiful if it was even possible.
"Allô, 'ermione!" She smiled at the other girl.
Luna came from behind Fleur, starling her as she saw Hermione. "Hello you two! Oh, seems like I'm supposed to seat next to you too, Fleur!" Both girls saluted the younger blonde and smiled.
As Ginny and Harry approached them, the redhead whispered something on Hermione's ear that made her blush and glare the boy, who was next to Fleur.
"Thank me later." He said, smiling and went to his seat next to Ginny.
"Hello, Fleur." the ginger said. That was odd, definitely odd. She had been doing her best to simply ignore Fleur's presence ever since she arrived earlier than everyone else. Now the girl was trying to be nice.
"'ello, Ginny!", smiling. If someone would complain about the other girl's demeanor, it wouldn't be her.
"I heard you have been in France this past week. How's Gabrielle?" Ginny leaned on Hermione so she could see Fleur's full face.
"Uh, she's great! She just finished her first year now and apparently is still completely strong headed as always." The veela smiled dreamingly, thinking about her sister.
"Good to hear." Ginny had always liked her little sister much more, maybe she was only trying to get news from the girl.
"I believe she is trying to persuade maman to let 'er come 'ere for vacation, apparently, she has no patience to her classmates by now." She was happy to deliver some news. "She says she wants to meet with whom I'm going to work with and see if she approves everyone…" Fleur smiled, remembering her saying that she wanted to meet Hermione.
"She must be all grown! Let me know when she's coming!" Hermione beamed at Fleur, making the blonde feel like pudding.
"Sure thing."
"So, I heard the minister wants you to head the aurors with Bill," Ginny changing the subject, "He didn't tell what you are going to do exactly, probably because mom would freak…"
"Oui, ze minister asked us to train some new aurors too, I believe Ronald eez one of zem. Not zat 'e needs much training…" Fleur couldn't stop smiling, she had Hermione by her side and was having a civilized conversation with the girl's best friend. That was odd, but to be sincere quite good. But her face turned into a confused when she heard Ron grumble. She saw Hermione turn around so she could face Ron, turning away from her. Within seconds she saw Ron's frighten expression and Hermione turn back to her.
"Fleur! We need to schedule our meeting so we are able to write the reports." Hermione smiled at her.
"What about we go for a drink? Zen we can arrange our meetings. But I believe you should get a well-deserved a vacation…"
"Oh, sure." Hermione's smile clearly fell.
"You should have a girl's night…" Harry said, causing Fleur and Hermione to beam.
"That would be lovely…" Luna said, joining the conversation. Hermione nodded and turned to her best friend who smiled weakly and nodded.
"Zats a wonderful idea." Fleur smiled, hoping that a night off would help her to change the ginger's mind about her. "We could meet at a bar or even at my 'ouse… I can arrange to 'ave some of my family's wine."
"I definitely vote on wine and Fleur's house!" Luna said almost jumping in excitement.
"Perfect!" Hermione grinned while Ginny half-heartedly smiled and nodded.
"'ow about Saturday night?" Fleur grinned at the other girls, they all nodded.
The dinner was over, most of the members of the order were gone and Fleur noticed that basically she, Luna and Hermione were the last ones that didn't live at the Burrow still there. She smiled and moved to thank Molly for the invite and say goodbye. She had noticed the change on Ginny's behavior after Hermione arrived and thinking about it she noticed they spent some time alone outside. Did Hermione ask the ginger to reconsider? Hardly. They were good friends and hadn't seen each other for a week or so. Must have been that. She begun bidding farewell and soon reached the redhead girl. Fleur smiled and motioned for a hug. Ginny complied.
"Zank you." The veela said, still hugging the girl.
"Uh…"
"I understand zat you can't change your opinion about me within seconds, but zank you for giving me a second chance." Fleur said at earnest, smiling at the girl as she stepped back from the hug. The redhead smiled.
Hermione was purposely the last person Fleur said goodbye to. Both were clearly sad but also too preoccupied with not giving away their feelings to the other that they failed to notice the sadness in each other's eyes.
"Uhm, until Saturday then, Fleur…" Hermione said in a small voice.
"Oui, until zen" Fleur waved to the redhead family once more and disapparated.
N/A: I'll probably go crazy with the amount of essays I have due to friday...
Sorry about the delay, it's been a crazy week. I must tell you something: NEVER procrastinate! Gods, I'm literally going crazy.
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter… Another one will be up saturday.
Please review!
thanks for reading!