After Bill left, Hermione had the feeling Fleur was avoiding her, this was confirmed by the half an hour she spent alone sitting at the couch while the blonde went for a drink. Hermione felt annoyed by the thought of the blonde being entertained by several women on the bar, but it was not a nice feeling to have. She decided to stop drinking and talk to Bill's friends for a while to then sneak out from the party. It seemed like this would be a common thing in her outings with Fleur, being left alone and she had a sense that whenever they got into a point of honesty of closeness the blonde always disappeared.
Hermione got to know a lot from the man she was sitting next to in the couch, he was one of Bill's gay friends from work and it gave her amazing insight about being gay in the magical world. It had not been easy for him at the beginning but after a while his parents started to change, like many did. She knew her parents would not have a bad reaction, they were already incredibly surprised by her magic so liking girls would not be as much a surprise for them, or at least that is what she expected.
The man was kindly taking Hermione by the hand into the dance floor to show her how to dance the electronic music that was blasting in the club. She was already standing and walking away from the group's table when she felt another hand on her free hand, gripping her by the wrist. Someone was pulling her back and this made her loose hold of the man's hand. After looking back to see the identity of the person she looked to the man again and with an apologetic smile told him she would come to dance later. The man nodded his head and continues his way towards the group of dancing people.
Hermione was standing in front of Fleur, which looked upset with her for some reason.
"I brought the drinks, they are on our table"
Hermione was speechless; in part because of the touch she felt on her wrist and also because of the strong gaze of the blue eyes that did not leaved hers. Fleur released Hermione's hand and walked to the table leaving the brunette standing still. After reacting slowly Hermione finally got to the couch and sat next to the blonde. She received her glass and thanked her but felt uncomfortable talking to an angry Fleur she could only wait.
The silence between them had never been this tense; no matter how much Hermione wondered in her mind she could not find a reason for the anger of Fleur. The only thing that came to mind after a while was that she could have encountered someone she disliked while in the bar, maybe an ex-lover or something.
"Hey Fleur…Why did you take so long?" Hermione tried to use a soft tone but she still wanted to be honest with her friend.
" I didn't?" Fleur replied after less than a second, not looking at Hermione and sipping slowly from her drink.
Hermione sighted but did not got angry, she wanted to get this over with and go back to her place more than before.
"I had been waiting for more than forty minutes here and is not the first time, remember? I almost left." Just the memory of it made Hermione upset but it was just that, she was not as angry as the blonde.
"I did not see you waiting anytime, you had entertainment all along" Fleur was still looking at the dance floor.
"Fleur, what is wrong with you? What do you mean by that?"
"I mean just what I said. You were really entertained with that guy so I figured you just forgot I was getting the drinks, you did not seemed to be waiting"
"After waiting for such a long time I had to talk to someone why would not I? I remembered you were coming but did not know it would take you that long"
"Well the line was incredibly long" Fleur replied coldly
"Are you sure it was that or that you got engaged in so many conversations that you lost track of time?" Now Hermione was also looking at the dance floor and sipping from her drink, she was starting to get furious, she could not understand why Fleur was attacking her.
"If I happen to get into a conversation most of the time is not my decision. Unlike you and that guy"
"Fleur, are you joking with me? What do you have against that guy? Do you know him?"
"No, but he surely wanted to know all about you"
Hermione finally had a hint of where the conversation was going, it was possible that Fleur was jealous, but why would not she if they were becoming best friends? She figured drinking could have made Fleur oversensitive so she tried to calm her down.
"He did and I also wanted to know more about him, he had an interesting story as a gay man inside the wizarding world and that was it, I was waiting for you"
Fleur suddenly looked back at Hermione, her words have seemed to work because the blonde seemed more relaxed. But then Fleur looked past Hermione and her frown came back again, she let out an exasperated sight and looked back at the dance floor again. Hermione looked back to see what happened when she saw a brunette girl with an excited look on her face walking towards them.
"Hey what are you frowning about? She is your type"
Hermione was only teasing Fleur, which gave her a dead panned look, but in reality she understood the blonde and wanted to help her. She put her glass on the table and got closer to Fleur she grabbed the blondes face with her hand and tried to get closer to her. The blonde did not move an inch and was holding her breath.
"Is she still coming here?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, this is the type of girl that is not easy to stop"
"Hug me then"
Fleur obeyed Hermione's orders and lean towards her to give her a hug the hold each other until the girl came near their table. Then Fleur laid her head in Hermione's shoulder while the brunette looked for the girl to give warn her with a furious gaze not to approach them. Surprised by Hermione's stare the girl's face changed from excitement to fear, which looked oddly similar and kept on walking as if she was never interested in Fleur.
The pair stayed like that for a while with both looking in silence towards the dance floor whit Fleur's head still on Hermione's shoulder. The brunette was the first to move forward to grab her drink, making Fleur move to sit straight again. Hermione had a grin in her face; it was interesting to see the blonde so emotional and vulnerable, when she was the always-confident half-veela.
" I don't understand why you had if she is exactly your type" Hermione started teasing Fleur wanting to change the earlier subject.
"Are you that pleased with knowing my type?" Fleur followed her actions, also grabbing her drink, sipping a little and then putting it back. She moved to the side to look at the brunette directly.
"Yes! Bill was an amazing source of teasing subjects. I am pleased with that" Hermione was smiling to Fleur waiting for her comeback.
"Don't act so cocky, there is something big you are missing out"
"What do you mean?" Hermione left her drink on the table; she did not expect that answer.
"You really haven't notice?" Fleur looked at the dance floor again and smiled.
"No, what? "Hermione followed her gaze and found the brunette woman still glancing at Fleur from afar; she did not notice anything strange about her.
"Haven't you noticed who fits my type?" Fleur was looking at Hermione but the brunette was still looking away. The blonde waited for a second before continuing, wanting to fully catch the surprise in Hermione's face.
"You"
Fleur saw the brunette's face contorting after she finished giving her answer. Hermione moved her head to look towards Fleur with a strong movement and jumped a little surprised by the proximity of the other and her gaze. But after the strong movement she remained still, freeze.
"I knew I was going to tell you this sometime, I just did not know it would be this soon"
Hermione tried to speak but couldn't, her heart start beating faster and she didn't like that, she did not like loosing control. Fleur was talking with a soft voice, it was not a teasing tone and it made Hermione even more uncomfortable.
"I though you have already figured out why I talked to you the night we first met, but I can see you didn't. What do you think now?"
Hermione tried hard to gain her composure and luckily she found strength inside of her to at least say something, trying to hide the adrenaline rush she was feeling.
"I don't know Fleur but… you can tell me"
Hermione moved a little bit further from the blonde but this did not help ease her feelings.
"I talked to you to invite you to a drink because you are my type Hermione. I just did not know it was you."
Fleur was talking normally, even relaxed, and Hermione envy her, she could not believe how her it was for her to maintain a normal stance.
"You are just teasing me" Hermione grabbed the drink just to do something with her hands.
"If you cannot handle this truth maybe you should stop teasing me because there you are sitting next trying to get me mad without realizing you are a perfect fit for what Bill described"
The blonde tilted her head to the side waiting for the reply and never taking her gaze away from Hermione who was now shifting in her seat looking away or to her green drink.
"Ok so what if I am your type? I am probably a lot of people's type"
"I bet I am your type too and that is why you are not telling me what your type is."
Now that they had drink through the night they were getting to a point of being honesty that neither of them expected but that seemed easier for Fleur than for Hermione.
"For the thousand time I do not have a type I need to explore more. You know what I don't know why are you trying to pick a fight with me?"
"I am not fighting! You started teasing me I am just saying this so you get down from your cloud."
"You know what you are acting weird maybe you just had a lot to drink"
"Why can't you take that I am your type? I am just being honest. Can you be honest with me too? Don't get angry with me"
Hermione felt calmed by the soft tone Fleur was using, she did not mean to be that angry but it was something inside of her fighting back whatever feeling she was having, she wanted to be honest, she valued Fleur that much.
"I am sorry Fleur you know what I really don't have a type but I cannot deny that you are attractive but I don't want to ruin our friendship just because I find you pretty"
Fleur smiled, but in her eyes there was sadness. It was as if this night she had all of her walls down and like a part of her she couldn't control had made the decision of talking about the things she was talking now with Hermione no matter the consequences.
"So you would never ever had anything with me?" Fleur asked not looking into Hermione's eyes, to the brunette the blonde seemed tender and vulnerable but she was determined on not ruining their friendship.
"No. I don't think so"
"Never?"
"No, really I value our friendship too much"
"Ah if you were not trying that hard to avoid it you could just do it"
"Ha! I am not trying hard to avoid you. Why would you even think that?
"Because of my charms. And I am not talking about my thrall because it is not effective on you"
"Do you want it to happen then Fleur? Do you want to have something with me?" this time Hermione dared to look at Fleur in the eyes and the blonde looked away.
"No, but its funny to see you denying something so strongly."
"It is not strongly I just think we are friends and that's it"
"You know what? If we are just friends, and only friends, lets kiss. Give me a non-affected kiss to prove it"
"What no? Hahah what for?"
"To prove that you would never ever had anything with me"
"I think you are taking this too far Fleur lets stop it here"
"Oh Hermione you are such a chicken." Fleur was smiling wildly "Look with the amount we have drink we would probably just forget it tomorrow"
But Fleur knew that was a lie, she had been already sober up and they both had barely touched the drinks she just got them. Hermione was just in silence, smiling and shaking her head highly amused, it was flattering that Fleur was trying to convince her but she was not sure.
"I dare you Hermione, just prove it to me, prove you just find me pretty and nothing else"
"But how we ended up here when I was just saying that I want us to remain friends, I do find you pretty I just don't want to be confused"
Fleur was looking at Hermione with an amused look. And Hermione bit her lower lip unconsciously; she was staring to question her position.
"So you are admitting that I can get you confused, so I am your type too right?"
Hermione was getting tired of this, she had kiss people before without feeling anything, maybe this could be one of these times; even more now that they were just friends teasing each other. But she had to be the one doing the first move.
Fleur was drinking from her glass while Hermione stared at her, she slowly positioned herself closer to her without the blonde noticing and just when the glass was on the table and Fleur was moving her head back to look at Hermione and probably tell her something else, the brunette moved forward and locked their lips together not expecting her heart to star beating faster again.
She intended to give the blonde a quick kiss even just a peck on her lips, but once her still smiling lips connected with Fleur's lips, the other reacted with a hunger that she never expected. Hermione tried to pull away for a second but Fleur never stopped kissing her with such want and need as if not wanting to let go. Hermione quickly lost track of time, intoxicated by the sweet scent she felt coming from the soft skin of the blonde. She started kissing her back with force, grabbing her neck while bringing their bodies closer. It felt like time stopped and they kissed for days. It was the first kiss that made her loose balance, focus and consciousness it felt like more than a kiss, she did not know what she was doing or where she was until the pace started getting slower and she slowly came back to reality, hearing the noises around, feeling the touch in her hands. Hermione was the one not letting go this time, but when they finally broke apart they could not look at each other. Fleur went for another drink to regain her composure and did not take long. Once she came back she put the drinks on the table and lean towards Hermione kissing her again, this time softer, Hermione doubted for a second, she seemed to regret it but soon continued kissing longer than before. They did not care if Bill of his friends saw them or not, it was something between them and only the two of them mattered now. They danced with the group to have some distraction from each other and Fleur hold Hermione's hand while walking towards the door of the club, not a word was said to one another after the kiss. When outside Hermione bit her lip again trying to control herself to not kiss Fleur with so many people around, she bid everyone goodbye and apparated home alone. That night Hermione had trouble sleeping; she touched her lips while lying on bed and took a deep breath, shivering when remembering Fleur. For Fleur she was hoping Hermione will remember everything the next day, the lively feeling and images of the kiss were so relaxing that she fell asleep easily. They were fearful about the next day and the consequences of their actions, but at the same time they both knew it had been worth it.
