Harry Potter and all related characters and places are owned by JK Rowling - I just make them dance for my own amusement.

~xxx~

Harry had seemed rather suspicious when Hermione had asked to borrow the Invisibility Cloak and Marauders' Map that evening, but had no objections. Clearly he assumed that if Hermione was asking for items she usually frowned upon, it must be important. About five minutes after she had left the Common Room that night, Hermione began to appreciate just how adept Harry was at sneaking around. The cloak, though mostly transparent from the inside, made her sense of depth rather diminished, and more than once she had to stop herself tripping over or bumping into things. Holding the map up was also a challenge, as it had to be done one handed; the other being used to stop the cloak falling under her feet.

After nearly running into Mrs Norris on the staircase, Hermione finally made it to the Fifth Floor. She had never been in this part of the castle before, but of course knew the layout. The corridor she was faced with had a sloped roof, and windows at floor-level, only reaching about halfway up the walls. Moonlight filtered in through the low windows, illuminating the suits of armour standing against the wall. She continued on and around the corner. At the end of the corridor was a statue of Boris the Bewildered, according to the map. Wishing Fleur had given her more instruction on how exactly to find the Prefect's Bathroom, she stopped walking for a moment, and looked closer at the map. Eventually finding the room she was looking for, she stepped over to a door, four along from the statue. Glancing both ways, as well as checking the map again, she pushed. And nothing happened.

It made sense that the door was locked, and for a moment she considered knocking. But no, that would just create too much noise. Again, she scrutinised the map for any clues, and to her relief saw a tiny speech bubble appear above her name on the parchment, within which were the words 'Pine fresh'. She whispered them to the door, and there was a small click. Smiling to herself, she muttered "Mischief managed," and pushed the door open.

Directly ahead of her were four ordinary looking wash basins; only three of which had a mirror to go with them. To the left were a few toilet cubicles, and Hermione began to wonder just what was so special about the Prefect's Bathroom; it looked to be just the same as the other ones. Stepping further into the room, she shook the cloak off, and folded it in her arms. She nearly dropped it when she looked to her right, however. Surrounded by tall windows, one of which was made of stained glass, was a huge angular bath; though it was more akin to a swimming pool. The surface was entirely covered in bubbles, which seemed to be due to the large amount of taps to one side of it. She made her way up the marble steps in front of her, which placed her on the raised area surrounding the bath. She spent a minute or so just looking around the impressive room, taking in the stone pillars surrounding the water, and the intricate patterns of the windows. The gentle sound of the water was rather relaxing, and Hermione found her desire to become a Prefect only increasing.

She began to walk along the marble floor around the bath, still in awe of the room, until her foot hit something. She looked down, and saw a very familiar leather book-bag. As if on cue, there was a splashing sound, and a blonde head appeared from within the bubbles.

"Bonsoir," Fleur said happily, parting the curtain of hair that had fallen in front of her face. Hermione had to stop herself from jumping back; Fleur had scared her half to death. "Awww, did I startle you, mon ange?"

"A…a little…" Hermione managed. Fleur chuckled and swam to the edge of the bath, cutting a wake through the bubbles.

"Zen I apologise," she said, grinning up at the other girl.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about?" the brunette asked, bending down to place the cloak and map at her feet. "I can't imagine you had me sneaking around after hours just to invite me to have a bath."

"Maybe I did," Fleur replied, but Hermione just raised an eyebrow. "Oh very well, I actually 'ave somez'ing to show you." She pushed off from the side of the bath, and swam back a little. "'Old on." She disappeared beneath the bubbles, and returned a moment later, clutching her Golden Egg. Hermione's eyes widened.

"You solved it?" she asked, impressed. Fleur nodded.

"Observe," she said. Twisting the catch on the top of it, she opened it for a couple of seconds. The awful wailing sound echoed around the large room, continuing to reverberate long after Fleur had closed the egg.

"Are you mad?" Hermione snapped. "Someone will hear!"

"Of course zey will not," Fleur said reproachfully. "I put a silencing charm on ze room. 'Onestly 'Ermione, I am not a fool."

"Sorry," Hermione replied, her cheeks colouring slightly. "It's just I'm not a very big fan of sneaking around this late."

"Anyway," Fleur continued, smirking. She lowered the egg into the water, and allowed herself to sink a little further in. Hermione, frowning in understanding, got onto her hands and knees, leaning her head over the edge of the bath. She gave the blonde a confused look, before grabbing as much of her hair in a single hand as she could, and dipping the side of her head into the water. As she did so, Fleur allowed herself to completely sink into the water, and opened the egg again. This time, the sound was very different. A ghostly, yet oddly melodic voice echoed through the water.

"Venir nous chercher où nos voix sont entendues,
Nous ne pouvons pas chanter au-dessus du sol,
Et pendant que vous cherchez, méditez ceci;
Nous avons pris que vous manquerez douloureusement,
Une heure longtemps vous devrez chercher,
Et réclamer que nous avons pris,
Mais le passé une heure, la perspective est sombre,
Trop dernier, il est allé, il ne reviendra pas."

Slowly, Hermione withdrew her head, ignoring the few strands of hair that had fallen into the water. Fleur re-emerged from the bubbles, and watched curiously as Hermione moved into a sitting position, her expression seemingly frozen. After a few moments, she blinked, and turned to the other girl. "Do you have a quill?"

"In my bag," Fleur replied, pointing at the object Hermione had nearly tripped over. The brunette moved over to it, and riffled through until she had pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment, a bottle of ink, and a rather fancy-looking golden quill. She wrote feverishly for a moment, before turning back to Fleur and visibly relaxing. "Right, I think that's an accurate enough translation," she said, scanning through what she had just written.

"I take it zey assumed 'aving to translate from English would put me at a disadvantage," Fleur said. Hermione laughed in response.

"As if that would give you any trouble," she scoffed, and the blonde smiled appreciatively.

"You are too kind," she said. "Anyway, now zat we 'ave ze egg worked out, do you 'ave any idea what it could mean?"

Hermione paused for a moment. Despite agreeing to help both Harry and Fleur, she knew she wouldn't feel comfortable pretending she didn't know how to get the egg's true message, and spending time giving fake ideas to Harry would be just as bad as lying. Still, he had claimed that he had mostly worked it out, so perhaps he already knew.

"Well, it's quite obvious that you'll have to find something," she said. "Given that the First Task was about getting past something protecting a goal you could see right from the start, I imagine this will focus more on actually locating it."

Fleur nodded. "Zat is what I assumed," the part-Veela replied. "I also 'ad an idea about where zis searching may take place. 'Ave anoz'er look in my bag."

Hermione did as she was told, and went back through Fleur's bag. She pulled out a couple of books, one of which had what looked like a folded page sticking out of it; torn from something else. She pulled that out first, and unfolded it. It was quite clearly a map, but it took her a while to figure out what it was of. "The lake?" she asked. "Of course! 'Come seek us where our voices sound' – and as their voices can only be heard underwater, the lake is the only logical place. The egg really is a clue, isn't it? It's not so much the words, but more how you have to hear them in the first place." She opened the book the map had been kept in, and a quick flick through told her it was a guide to various aquatic magical creatures. "Fleur, you don't think…?"

As she had been talking, Hermione hadn't noticed a splashing sound behind her, nor the wet footsteps that followed it. It was only when a shadow appeared over her that she looked over her shoulder.

"…Fleur, you're…you're…"

"Completely naked and dripping wet?" the blonde asked casually. "Oui, I suppose I am." She smiled widely. "Now zen, you were saying?" Hermione just continued to stare. She hated herself for it, but she was completely at the mercy of her girlfriend's bare form. She was guilty of having had some decidedly less than innocent dreams about the part-Veela girl, but none of them compared to actually seeing her nude body in all it's glory. The flickering light from the various torches around the room danced across her skin, the water's sheen only adding to the effect. Fleur's throaty laugh broke her from her trance. "Oh 'Ermione, you are no better zan zose boys 'oo are always staring at me," she chuckled, folding her arms across her chest. "Ma chéri, I am up 'ere!"

"Those…those boys don't get to see you like this…" Hermione breathed, her voice rather raspy. Fleur leant down and placed a quick kiss upon the top of Hermione's bushy hair.

"Only you," she murmured. "Now zen, are you going to continue what you were saying? Or should I put some cloz'es on?"

"Oh, um….right," Hermione stammered, reluctantly turning back to the books. "Well let's go through the message…" Behind her, Fleur sat down, resting her chin upon Hermione's shoulder and peering over it. Hermione bit her lip to restrain her smile; here she was, shy bookish Hermione Granger, studying old tomes as always, while Fleur Delacour was completely naked and draping herself over her. It was far from an unpleasant situation. "'Come seek us where our voices sound' – the lake. 'We cannot sing above the ground' – now is that just referencing the egg? Or…" She turned the page of Fleur's book. "…merpeople. Their voices can only be understood below the water."

"Zat was what I zought," Fleur said. "Zen again, ze stained-glass window in 'ere was a big 'int."

"That's a point, just how did you end up in here?" Hermione asked, glancing to the side; Fleur's head was level with hers.

"I shall tell you later; carry on wiz zis first," the blonde said, and Hermione nodded.

"'And while you search, ponder this' – so yes, you will be searching for something," Hermione continued. "'We've taken what you'll sorely miss' – that almost implies they've taken something that belongs to you. Has anything gone missing lately?"

"Non, noz'ing I can zink of," Fleur replied.

"Well, perhaps they haven't actually taken it yet," the brunette said. "'An hour long you'll have to look, and to recover what we took' – well that's obvious; you have a time limit. Though that could be…problematic."

"Zere are various mez'ods of breaz'ing underwater," Fleur said. "We learnt about zem last year at Beauxbatons."

"Really?" Hermione asked. "I've never heard of any..." Her shoulders sagged slightly. "Then again, I do keep forgetting that you're three years ahead of me."

"As do I," Fleur said, resting her head against Hermione's. "As I said all zat time ago; so mature…"

"Thank you," the bushy-haired girl said, her cheeks reddening again. "Anyway… 'But past an hour, the prospect's black. Too late, it's gone, it won't come back' – that sounds…ominous."

"Hmm…so if it is not found, we never get it back?" Fleur asked. "Zat sounds raz'er cruel; taking away a personal belonging and zen leaving it at ze bottom of a lake if you do not reach it in time."

"That is what you're most worried about?" Hermione replied, incredulous. "Fleur, do you have any idea what sort of creatures are down there? Even if you can find a way to breathe underwater for an hour, you'll have to contend with all sorts of horrible things in your way."

"Well, at least I 'ave you to 'elp me come up wiz some ideas," Fleur said, smiling widely. Hermione returned it, and their foreheads touched.

"Awwww, aren't you two sweet?" a voice from the other side of the room said glumly. Hermione and Fleur instantly turned to the direction of the voice, and were met with a sight that was very familiar to Hermione.

"You," she said, rather quickly shedding her robes and throwing them over Fleur's bare body. Leaning upon the seat of one of the toilets, was the familiar spectral form of Moaning Myrtle.

"Oh it's just 'you' now, is it?" the ghost replied sulkily. "After all the time I let you stay in my bathroom, brewing potions with your little friends."

"Ceci est un scandale!" Fleur spat, her blue eyes blazing. "Why do zey let ghosts just wander around ze castle at will? If you tried zis at Beauxbatons, you would be out faster zan you could blink!"

"Ooooooo she's a feisty one, Granger," Myrtle said, breaking into a wide grin. "Maybe you should keep her on a lead!"

"'Ow dare you?" Fleur snapped. She tried to get to her feet, but Hermione's robes made it rather difficult, and the younger girl placed a firm hand upon her shoulder.

"Fleur, she's not worth it," the brunette said, glaring at the ghost.

"Oh of course Myrtle isn't worth it!" the bespectacled spirit whined. "She's not worth anything at all!"

"Myrtle, calm down," Hermione said, careful to keep an eye on Fleur. "Now, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see what all the noise was," she said. "This is the Prefect's Bathroom; you two shouldn't be in here."

"Ze Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students are allowed to use it," Fleur said icily. "Do you often spy on people bathing?"

"Sometimes," Myrtle said, her eyes glinting. "Though Cedric Diggory was a lot nicer to look at…"

"Did he bring his egg in here too?" Hermione asked, speaking quickly in case Fleur had another go at Myrtle.

"Oh yes," the ghost replied. "Took him a lot longer to figure it out; he spent hoooours talking to himself." She shot Fleur a dirty look. "Though he didn't have any help; he did it all himself."

"Save it, Myrtle," Hermione snapped, her own anger rising now. "Now, are there merpeople in the lake?"

"Well of course there are, stupid girl," the ghost replied. "Always have been. I've seen them sometimes…"

"Thank you," Hermione said icily. "Now would you mind going?"

"Fine," Myrtle huffed. She turned to Fleur and glared again. "If you drown down there, don't even think about coming into my bathroom."

"Zat is ze last zing I would do, believe me," Fleur replied murderously. "Now be gone!"

Letting out a long, sorrowful whine, Myrtle plunged back into the toilet. They listened to her subsiding racket, before both breathing sighs of relief. "Sorry about that," Hermione said. "She's never really liked me."

"Obviously," Fleur muttered, shaking off Hermione's robes and getting to her feet. The brunette found herself momentarily stunned again, before forcing her lecherous thoughts into the back of her mind. Tearing her eyes away from Fleur's curvaceous body, she looked back at the book. There was a drawing of a rather vicious looking mermaid, and she felt herself feeling uneasy. She glanced up and saw that Fleur had grabbed her wand and was levitating the plug out of the bath, draining the water. There were still a few marks on Fleur's body from the First Task; her burnt arm had been fully healed, but the less serious wounds had been left to mend on their own. Hermione didn't like the idea of Fleur coming to any more harm, but it was far too late to start badgering her about safety again.

"Well zen," Fleur said. "I suppose we should both be off to bed." She sounded almost regretful. "So I am afraid your little peep-show is at an end…"

"I'd hardly call it a peep-show," Hermione said, getting to her feet and smiling. "Just why do you like wandering around in front of me with nothing on?"

Fleur shrugged. "I feel comfortable around you?" she offered. "I am not quite certain…" She smiled widely. "'Owever, I doubt you are complaining, ma chéri."

"Umm…no, not at all," Hermione said. She stepped closer still, and rather boldly encircled Fleur's bare waist with her arms. "I like to see what is mine…"

"Ahhhh…she is getting braver…" Fleur said, her eyes twinkling. Hermione chuckled.

"Well, I can hardly be shy when I have seen…" She looked Fleur up and down. "…everything…" Fleur gave another throaty laugh and pulled Hermione closer, pressing their bodies together. They shared a rather long kiss, before Hermione pulled away. "We…ah…we really should be getting to bed."

"Oui," Fleur replied, rather obviously licking her lips. Hermione rolled her eyes, and returned to Fleur's bag, packing everything back into it. As she did so, she heard the blonde getting dressed across the room. By this point, Fleur's skin had long since dried, and only her hair was still damp. A minute later, both were ready to leave.

"Fleur, there's one thing I want to know," Hermione said. "What made you think of trying the egg underwater?"

"Oh, it was quite amusing actually," the blonde said. "One of my friends – ze one Krum went to ze Ball wiz - said she 'ad been watching 'im swimming a lot; diving off ze Durmstrang ship. I zought per'aps 'e knew somez'ing I did not, and wondered why 'e was spending so much time practicing in ze lake. It was only logical to try ze egg in ze water."

Hermione nodded, impressed at Fleur's thought process; she imagined she would have gone about it in exactly the same way. "Will you be okay getting back to the carriage?" she asked.

"You will find I am surprisingly adept at sneaking around after hours," Fleur replied, smirking. "I was quite ze troublemaker in my early years at Beauxbatons."

"You know, when I first met you, I wouldn't have believed that," Hermione said. "But now, I recognise that look you get on your face..." She smiled. "It's the same look Harry and Ron get when they're planning some rule breaking."

"I shall take zat as ze 'ighest form of compliment," the blonde said. She leant closer and pecked each of Hermione's cheeks. "Bonsoir, mon amour."

"Wait." Hermione took out her wand, and flicked it in Fleur's direction. What looked like a jet of steam shot out of it, and quickly dissipated; Fleur's hair was completely dry. "There."

"Ah…non-verbal magic," Fleur said, clearly impressed. "I am not even surprised anymore."

"Thanks," Hermione said, smiling gratefully. "Anyway, goodnight Fleur." She placed a final kiss upon Fleur's lips, before pulling the Invisibility Cloak over herself. As Fleur exited the room, Hermione followed closely. They left in different directions; Fleur heading straight down the corridor, and Hermione turning to the right, back the way she had come.

~xxx~

The next few days passed rather quickly. True to her word, Hermione hadn't mentioned anything of her meeting with Fleur. When Harry and Ron had asked, she had simply said that Fleur had invited her down to the Beauxbatons carriage to meet some of her friends. On Friday morning, when Harry revealed that he had only worked out the egg the previous night, Hermione hadn't been best pleased; he had indeed been lying about having figured it out beforehand. Of course, when Harry revealed that Myrtle had visited him, and had told him Fleur and Hermione had been in the Prefect's Bathroom only a few nights before, she had been forced to come clean about their midnight rendezvous.

Whether Myrtle hadn't mentioned it, or Harry was simply thinking of what Ron's reaction would be, he hadn't mentioned anything Myrtle catching Fleur completely unclothed with Hermione, something the brunette was rather grateful about. After Harry had given her a written version of his egg's message, she had been rather pleased that her translation of Fleur's egg was almost identical, and made a mental note that she really needed to speak more French around Fleur; it was only fair.

Of course, Ron had rather tactlessly asked her what Fleur was planning to breathe underwater with, but she had honestly replied that she didn't know. Fleur seemed confident in magic she had already learnt, and hadn't even bothered to mention it by name, though upon reflection, Hermione decided that may have been intentional; so she didn't have to keep another secret from Harry, and could help him without having to fake not knowing the answer.

Two days before the Second Task, Fleur had come to Hermione before breakfast and said it would be better if she didn't eat at the Gryffindor table for the next few days; before and after the Second Task. While Hermione's peers had welcomed her with open arms; in her capacity as the brunette's girlfriend, at least, she was still the Beauxbatons Champion, and she didn't want to cause a scene. Harry himself wasn't eating properly again, something that worried Hermione, and she had been badgering him constantly at mealtimes to eat more. When the latest message from Sirius arrived, Harry seemed even more disappointed.

"Weekend after next," she whispered to Harry, having read the message from his godfather over his shoulder. She handed him her quill to write his reply. "Actually I wanted to ask you something about Hogsmeade anyway."

"Hm?" Harry murmured as he wrote.

"Well…um…would it be alright if Fleur came with us?" she asked. "She really wants to see the village."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ron chimed in. "If Siri- …I mean Padfoot - wants to know, he's probably planning something; might even turn up himself."

"I hope not," Hermione said. "That would just be-"

"Exactly the sort of thing he would do," Harry said, handing his reply to the owl and watching it fly off. He turned to Hermione. "If you're sure she won't tell anyone about Padfoot, then I don't see why not."

"Thanks, Harry," Hermione replied, smiling.

~xxx~

Care of Magical Creatures had been interesting ever since Hagrid had returned to the subject. He clearly had his full support behind Harry, but was careful about how he phrased things; or at least tried to be. He had of course seen Hermione and Fleur at the Yule Ball, but hadn't mentioned it once. She had hoped he wouldn't hold it against her; the half-giant was clearly confident beyond words in Harry. As the rest of the class attended to the golden unicorn foals, she overheard Harry and Hagrid talking, and couldn't help peeling off from the main group and subtly stepping closer, hoping to get Hagrid to talk to her.

"Yeh're goin' ter win," Hagrid was saying, patting Harry on the shoulder. "I know it. I can feel it. Yeh're goin' ter win, Harry." He looked up in surprise. "Oh, hello, Hermione. I was jus' tellin' Harry about-"

"It's alright, Hagrid," she said. "You really don't need to tip-toe around the subject." Ron, who had followed her, pulled a face; clearly trying to imagine Hagrid tip-toeing in real life.

"Oh…righ', yeah, it's jus'…" He really didn't seem to know how to talk about this.

"Hagrid, I don't have a problem with, nor would I expect you to do anything other than fully support Harry," Hermione said. "Just…try to think of Fleur the Champion and Fleur my girlfriend as two different people, if that helps."

The bearded man's face flushed slightly, and he shifted slightly. "I…er…suppose yeh heard all tha'…"

"It's fine, Hagrid," Hermione insisted. "I'd much rather you speak your mind than worry about offending me."

"Oh I'd never dream of offendin' yeh, Hermione," he said, and the brunette nodded.

"Exactly, so don't worry about it," she said. "So when the Second Task takes place, I expect to see you cheering for Harry."

"Righ' yeh are," Hagrid said, still sounding rather nervous. Sensing Hagrid's discomfort at discussing the subject, Hermione just smiled and headed back to the Unicorns.

~xxx~

The evening before the Second Task, Hermione was close to pulling her hair out. She, Ron and Harry were sat alone in the library, pouring over piles of books, searching for anything that could allow a person to breathe underwater for the time needed. She was becoming more and more irritated that Fleur hadn't mentioned what she had planned, and cursed herself for not asking about it. Even though that would have then raised the issue of having to keep it hidden from Harry, the fact that she herself was unable to find anything on the subject was giving Hermione a headache. The library had never once failed her before, and now they couldn't even get close to what they were looking for; it felt almost like a personal betrayal on the part of the room.

More infuriating was the fact that Ron and Harry were still joking; tiredly laughing about Harry becoming an Animagus goldfish of all things. She closed the book she had been reading irritably, and sighed. "Oh this is no use," she groaned, running a hand through her hair. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind," said a voice. She looked up to see Fred and George Weasley standing there, looking rather amused. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

Ron, who had be drifting in and out of wakefulness, sat up straight. "What are you two doing here?" he asked. The twins exchanged knowing looks.

"Looking for you," George said. "McGonagall wants you, Ron. And you, Hermione."

"Why?" the brunette asked, baffled. Surely their head of house knew they would be helping Harry; though perhaps that was why she wanted to see them; maybe McGonagall thought she and Ron were helping Harry too much, or that there was something unsporting going on involving Hermione's link to Fleur.

"Dunno," Fred said, shrugging. "She was looking a bit grim, though."

"We're supposed to take you to her office," George added. Hermione gave Harry and quizzical look, and clearly he was just as confused as she was; Ron looked the same. Gathering her belongings together and pulling her robes – which had been hanging from the back of her chair – back on.

"We'll meet you back in the Common Room," she said, but Harry didn't seem to take much solace in it. "Bring as many of these books as you can, okay?"

"Right," Harry said, looking even more worried than he had done previously. Hermione followed Ron and his brothers out of the library, still wondering just why McGonagall would want to see her and Ron for something, but not Harry. Deciding the answers would present themselves when they arrived, she just focussed on following the others, hoping this wouldn't take long.