Chapter 11

Fleur wakes up some time later, her body fully relaxed. She enjoys the feeling of the sheets and the comfortable childhood bed, lying on it without opening her eyes yet, just enjoying the laziness. That is until she hears a low whimper coming from the bed on her left. The blonde opens her eyes in surprise and looks for the source of the whimper. Hermione is still in the other bed, asleep as far as the blonde can tell, her eyes scrunched shut.

"Hermione?" She calls to her, but the brunette doesn't seem to hear. She stands up and kneels just beside her bed. The blonde brushes the younger woman's hair away from her face and caresses her cheek, getting rid of the wetness under her eyes. "Hermione." She calls to her again, shaking her lightly. "Hermione, darling, you are having a bad dream... wake up."

The brunette seems to hear her this time and she opens her eyes in surprise. Fleur stares at her bewildered brown orbs while they take in everything around them and her brain plays catch up. "Hey. It was just a bad dream." She tells her calmly, still caressing her cheek with her hand. Hermione's hand lands over the blonde's and she closes her eyes briefly, finally relaxing her features.

"Sorry." She says, somewhat embarrassed. "Did I wake you?"

"No, I don't think so... I was waking up by myself already." Fleur shakes my head, that's not really important right now. "Are you alright?"

She nods. "Yes. Just a bad dream..."

"Do you want to talk about it?" As soon as Fleur suggests it, her face changes, it tenses again. She moves her body and gasps, a flash of pain going through her. "Are you okay?"

She sits down and her hands go to her left calf. "Just a cramp." Without thinking, the blonde stands and sits in the bed, takes her foot and bends it so the calf is properly stretched, then starts rubbing. Hermione tenses again briefly at the contact but finally relaxes and sighs when the sudden pain subsides.

"You are very tense. Maybe a hot bath will help you relax?" Fleur suggests.

"Maybe." She says, nodding. The older witch lets her calf go and she puts her feet on the floor.

Fleur stands before Hermione does and leans in to leave a kiss on her forehead, more like resting momentarily her lips there. "Whatever it was, now it just was a bad dream." She withdraws and caresses her cheek again. The brunette nods. "Why don't you go in and relax and I'll go down to find us something to eat? We had Chinese hours ago, I am kind of hungry, aren't you?" She says nonchalantly. The brunette seems only capable of nodding again. "Okay." She straightens herself. "You will find some towels under the sink. Any preference on the food?"

"No..." Hermione shrugs. "Thank you, Fleur."

"You are welcome. See you in a bit."

In England, the morning will have just begun and here the last rays of light are filtering through the windows before hiding on the horizon and inviting the night in. It also happens that in England, Fleur would be wearing at least three layers of clothes, much like an onion, and yet in Australia it's enough with a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. The magic of this Earth.

"Hey, sleepyhead." Tante is in the kitchen. "How was your day?"

The blonde rests her elbows on the isle and her head in her hand. "Eventful." She looks at me expectantly. "Hermione's parents were hiding here, but... they didn't have a clue they were." She explains vaguely. "Everything will be fine, though. I hope... Once it was done, jet-lag caught up with us and we took a nap." Fleur takes in everything that her Tante is doing.

"Now I'm hungry."

"Did you grab something for lunch?" The blonde shakes her head. "I thought so. I am making some dinner. Does Hermione like everything...?" She gestures to the ingredients lying on the kitchen isle.

"I think so, yeah. Can I help?"

"Yes, sure. Why don't you start putting together a salad?"

"So how was your day, Tante?" Fleur says while waving her wand, levitating the lettuce and tomatoes to the sink and washing them, putting them back on the cutting board and making a knife cut them up.

"We were called early this morning to work. There was a fight between two species at the natural reserve and they needed all hands on deck to heal the injuries and re-establish the order." She points with her wand to the salt and it seasons the salad. "We came back not long ago. Your Oncle is having now his turn to shower." She nods.

"So tell me, dear. How are you doing?" Fleur looks at her and sees the serious meaning behind her question.

"I... I am trying to keep going." She shrugs. "I still miss William every day, so much it hurts, but I have to keep going, keep living."

"I'm so sorry that you had to go through something like this. You are so young." She squeezes my hand. "Will you be able to be happy again? To love again?"

"I will never forget him." She shrugs. "Maybe... I hope so, Tante."

"He was not your mate, was he?" The blonde shakes her head. "Do you think when you find him you will be happy again?" She bites her lip. "Fleur... have you find him already?"

The blonde nods guiltily. "I have."

"Oh, dear." She stops and leans on the counter by her niece's side. "Everything is more complicated than you thought, isn't it?" When Fleur was a kid, she used to come up with these stories that she would find her mate, everything would fall into place and they would live happily ever after just like her parents and grandparents did. She didn't take many things into account, though.

She nods again. "I loved him, Tante, I still love William very much."

"I know, my dear." She hugs the blonde. "I understand that you loved him very much and I am in no way trying to invalidate your feelings for him. I am just worried for you, that is all. Your situation is quite rare for someone with veela in her blood. And now that you have found your mate..." She shakes her head. "It is complicated. I hope time will make things easier."

Her Tante's embrace reminds Fleur of when she was a little girl. When playing around with her cousin, she fell and scrapped her knee and her dear Tante Elise would pick her up in her arms, heal her and give her some chocolate to make her feel better. Her arms are a safe place for the blonde, full of understanding and trust.

They stay like that for some more time, until the food on the fires begs for their attention. She kisses her niece's head, slaps her bottom gently and goes back to cooking. "Hey." Fleur says. "You messed my shirt up with your dirty apron."

"Sorry." She sets the table with a wave of her wand. "This is almost finished. Why don't you go change and wake Hermione up?"

Fleur walks back to her room, looking at the stain in her t-shirt. She doesn't even know what her tante was cooking at that moment or even if she will be able to clean it up. She will have to ask her about spells that work with difficult stains. She is a little bit distracted when she opens the door, pushes it shut behind her and startles at the movement inside.

"Oh." The blonde stops just inside the bedroom as she yelps. Hermione is standing by her bed, only in her underwear. She turns around startled, trying to cover her body by instinct with the towel she was using to dry her hair.

"Oh, it's you." She sighs and relaxes, although she still keeps the towel up. Fleur does her best, but she can't stop staring at the pale, perfect skin and the curves of her body. Hermione blushes. "I guess you have seen it all already."

Fleur swallows, still trying to stop her eyes from roaming the brunette's body and look cool and collected, not like a creep. "I guess. But I was otherwise preoccupied with healing at the time." Hermione gives her a shy smile. God, she is gorgeous, Fleur thinks. "I'm sorry." She finally says aloud, looking down to the floor. "I stained my t-shirt and I was just coming up to change it. I..." Her traitorous eyes look up then.

Hermione shrugs. "I thought you were downstairs." She turns slightly back and gets the cloghes she had already lined up on the bed. "If you'll excuse me, I will go back to the bathroom to finish getting dressed and try to tame my hair a bit in the mirror." She walks to the bathroom and out of sight, but leaves the door open to be able to hear into the bedroom.

Fleur walks to the brunette's purse and 'accio's her bag out. "My aunt has dinner almost finished. I will just change my t-shirt and go back down." She takes a shirt from it and pulls the stained one off. She looks at the already dry stain, shaking her head. The blonde suddenly feels a shiver run through her spine and turns around to find Hermione's head looking out from the bathroom.

She takes her time letting her eyes roam up and down my shirtless self. Even though, it is very hot outside, Fleur is slightly chilly and a little self-conscious. The blonde covers it up with a little bravado, putting her hands on her hips, daring, and waiting for the brunette to finish.

"Well, it was only fair." She smirks and disappears into the bathroom. "I will be down in a minute." She closes the bathroom door.