Chapter 14: Breathless
A few days later, the Second task has arrived and Fleur glances around her nervously as people begin to seat themselves in the benches, all crying out the name of their champion. The cool wind seeps through her cloak and crawls up her spine, making her shiver. She runs her hands up and down her arms. Her eyes gaze down.
The large expanse of dark water in front of her intimidates the blonde. There was no seeing the bottom or any life within its icy black depths. It did not look very inviting, especially with the combination of the cold air swirling around her already.
Hermione…The crowd roars with anticipation and Fleur's stomach sinks with fear. The brunette is no where in sight. There's only one person in my life that is more precious to me than anything else... Trumpets blare boisterously a few feet away from her. And if they were to take something from me…then… She turns to the side to see Harry staring down at the platform they're standing on nervously. " 'arry?"
"Huh?" He snaps out of his muse.
" 'ave you seen 'ermione by any chance?" The worry in his face tells her immediately that he hasn't as well.
"No," he murmurs, and glances over to the stand to see Ron shrug at him as if reading his mind about the question of Hermione's whereabouts.
Fleur bit her lower lip. Then... it's just like what I thought before… They took her. " 'arry," She notices that his entire body is shaking with trepidation.
"Yeah?" His eyes dart fretfully over at her and then at the water.
I shouldn't tell him. He's worried enough as he is. "Be careful," She flashes him a weak smile. Telling him will only make him lose his senses while participating. "And good luck,"
"Thanks Fleur, you too," He says with an appreciative smile.
Fleur nods her head at him and turns back to face the water. She takes off her light turquoise silk cloak and hands it over to her teacher. Hands clench up tightly into a ball, and knuckles turn white as an image of Hermione trapped underwater flashes in her mind. She shuts her eyes and takes in a deep breath to calm her nerves.
"Fleu-" Harry turns to face Fleur.
The blonde opens her eyes, a wave of determination washes over her and she looks over at him. "Yes?"
"N-nothing," Harry murmurs and turns away. Wow. The sight of her bright orbs flashing with a piercing determination rendered him speechless. Harry had never seen someone look so resolute and strong. Compared to her, he felt inferior for a second and he felt a bit of admiration for her. His eyes steal a glance at her. No wonder Hermione fell for her.
The announcer on another platform yells over to the champions to get ready, knocking all of them out of their trance-like state. Harry, Fleur, Viktor and Cedric line up on the red line in their starting positions. The cannon fires off and the crowd screams.
Fleur quickly casts the bubble head charm that allows her to breath underwater and dives forward. Please, let me get to her! Please let her be safe! She propels forward by paddling quickly with her legs. Eyes quickly search left to right to catch sight of Hermione. Where can she be? She swims through a thatch of tall seaweeds. Suddenly she hears someone zipping from behind her and snaps around to see no one. Thinking it's her imagination, she hurries forward, her hand clutching the wand tightly in her hand.
Squinting, she begins to see the clearing in front of her and spots four shadows. Hermione! She turns her head to the side to see Harry swimming up ahead. Harry- he made it. She tries to take a stroke forward but feels something claw her ankle. Before being able to turn around, she feels a scaly hand grab her leg and pull her back. Fleur screams.
Meanwhile Harry has just arrived to his destination. There they are! He catches sight of Ginny and the other hostages. With a burst of strength, Harry shoots forward to Ginny and tries to untie the rope around her ankle holding her down. Hearing someone approaching, he turns to the side to see Viktor, who has badly transfigured himself to half a shark. He swims past him and cuts Gabrielle loose with a knife from the waistband of his Speedos. Not one second later, Cedric arrives and rescues Cho. The two boys hurry to the surface while Harry stays back, looking around for a sign of Fleur. Where is she?
Suddenly a thin red beam shoots out from the lower right and severs the rope binding Hermione's ankle, releasing her. What in the - His eyes scan around him and then he looks downward to see Fleur swimming toward the bottom while trying to fight off Grindylows. He can hear her crying out loud in frustration and pain. But why is she swimming to the bottom when the hostages are up here? Torn between deciding what to do, Harry chooses to help the girls out first before helping Fleur, not wanting to have the remaining hostages stay underwater any longer than they had to. He swiftly unties the rope holding down Ginny and swims towards Hermione. Using a spurt of strength, he boosts them upward so that they may float up to the surface first.
"Fleur!" he cries out, swimming out towards her. "Close your eyes!"
Fleur, though caught off guard for a second upon hearing Harry calling out to her, immediately shuts her eyes and hears the younger boy shout out a spell. Behind her eyelids, she sees a blinding light in front of her and shields her eyes with her hands as a precaution. Fleur only opens her eyes when she feels Harry grab her wrist and pull her away. Sparks of electricity linger on the creatures. She presumes that he shot them with a attack spell after the blinding spell. "Thank you 'arry," she murmurs and feels something overcome her. She tightly balls up her left hand, and falls unconscious.
Meanwhile up in the surface, a drenched and panic-stricken Hermione along with a frantic Gabrielle and Ginny, desperately search over the water for any signs of Fleur and Harry. Covered in a dark grey blanket to keep her warm, she clutches at its sides tightly. Her body shakes due to a combination of the cold and the uneasy state she's in.
"Hermione look!" Ginny shouts and Harry shoots out of the water like a cannon while grasping Fleur's hand. The two champions land on the platform with a thud. Harry sputters out water and Ginny quickly covers him with a blanket.
"Fleur!" Hermione cries out and hurries to the blonde's body. She scans her eyes over her body to see claw like gashes and scratches with blood slowly seeping out from her injuries. "Oh my goodness…" She cups her mouth. "Fleur," she murmurs and feels tears welling up in her eyes. Teachers and students begin to crowd around them, causing a commotion. A medic arrives and takes her to the hospital wing with the brunette going as well, not wanting to leave Fleur's side.
"Is she going to be okay?" she asks the nurse a few minutes later when she finishes tending to her wounds.
"She lost a fair amount of blood but she'll be fine," the woman reassures her, "Nothing our potions won't fix. She just needs some rest. Don't worry yourself though, it's not as bad as it looks."
Hermione sighs out of relief but still feels fear gripping at her. "Thank you,"
"You're welcome, but please don't stress, I'm sure that young lady- Delacour wasn't it? Wouldn't want you to as well," She gives her an encouraging smile and pats her lightly on the shoulder. "There's a chair over there near the wall, you can use that to sit next to the bed if you like till she wakes up,"
Hermione gives her an appreciative nod and walks over to the wall. She pulls the chair to Fleur's bedside.
"Oh, by the way," The nurse snaps her fingers. "There's something in her hand,"
"Her hand?" Her eyes grow wide but the nurse quickly shakes her head to tell her that there's nothing to fear.
"Her left hand has been clutched up in a ball ever since we got her in here. I don't know why, but she won't loosen her grip. But she's definitely holding on to something and not letting go. Maybe you might be able to help ease her grip? Anyway that's all I wanted to tell you, please call me whenever you have anymore questions." She excuses herself and leaves the room.
Curious of what the lady had just informed her, Hermione peers over at Fleur's hand to see it in fact balled into a fist. She lightly grazes her fingers over Fleur's knuckles and feels the grip tighten like it was being threatened. "Fleur," she murmurs sadly and takes her hand. She gives her hand a warm squeeze and her thumb rubs the back of hand soothingly. Gradually the grip loosens.
What's that? Hermione notices from the opening of Fleur's hand that she was holding something.
"Mione?" The brunette abruptly turns around to see Harry and the rest of her friends standing near by, all wearing an expression of worry for her. "She is going to be okay?" Harry asks.
"Yeah, she's fine, just resting," Hermione says, smiling to them even though she knows that they can see through her.
"A ring?" Harry asks to himself but everyone notices that his attention is over at Fleur. "She's holding something in her hand; it looks like a ring,"
Hermione looks at him confused and turns over to the blonde. Softly, she prys open the fingers and looks in surprise to see the blonde holding the sapphire ring she had given her for Christmas.
"So that's what she was doing," Harry said, backtracking in his thoughts and realizing the reasons for Fleur's actions.
"Doing what?" Hermione asks quickly, but mutters a sorry.
"It's alright," Harry replies. "She was swimming to the bottom of the lake while fighting the grindylows. I was wondering why she'd go that direction but I'm guessing that's the reason why, she was going after the ring."
"They must've knocked it off of her somehow," Ron guesses.
Pain evident in Hermione's eyes, the brunette takes the ring and places it on Fleur's left hand ring finger.
Fleur's hand flinches.
Slightly groaning, the blonde begins to blearily open her eyes. " 'ermione?" Fleur whispers, pronouncing her beloved's name uniquely as usual by rolling her Rs. She flashes a big warm smile, like nothing had happened. "Are you trying to propose to me?"
"Wh-what?" Hermione asks, out of words and taken by surprise.
The group stares at the couple with a grin, a few of them muffling a laugh at Fleur's teasing. Harry chuckles to himself, happy to see that the blonde is awake and Hermione baffled. Gabrielle breaks the silence by clearing her throat.
"Well big sister I'm glad to see that you're fine- and now that you are, I'll be off," She takes a step but stops as everyone else seems frozen in place. "Privacy people, haven't you ever heard of the term?"
Ron, Harry and Ginny bashfully laugh and excuse themselves. Gabrielle flashes the two a quick wink before walking off. The door closes behind them.
Hermione turns her face to Fleur. "So wait- what did you say Fleur?"
The blonde grins. "Were you trying to propose?" She chuckles as Hermione tilts her head telling her that she still didn't catch on. Fleur attempts to raise her left hand but her body feels like it were drained of energy. "My left 'and," she decides to clue her, and finally lifts her hand slowly at her. "The ring,"
Hermione stops for a second to think. A light bulb flashes in her head when she connects the information and feverishly blushes. "I-I-well that wasn't exactly-"
Fleur giggles.
Hermione bite her lower lip and pouts. However she warms up instantly when she feels Fleur weakly grasping her hand. "Fleur," She looks up at her and feels her heart race when Fleur's deep blue eyes stare at her adoringly. Heat rises up to her face and she glances around to see no one else in the room. With a smirk, she leans forward and softly kisses her, hoping that it would somehow aid her sweetheart in getting better.
The kiss is simple, yet almost breathtaking. Lips at first barely touch but soon pursue against one another and Fleur feels her lungs going out of breath.
"I was just trying to put the ring back on your finger but honestly, spending the rest of my life with you doesn't seem like a bad idea. It sounds almost like a dream." says Hermione softly after they part.
This time Fleur blushes, deeply touched by Hermione's words and for once feels speechless. After gathering her thoughts, she chuckles and with a smile says, "It does seem nice, but the future is way too far ahead and it's too early to think of it… however the idea is very wondrous," She giggles when she sees Hermione's expression drop. "But…" Hermione looks at her curiously. "I don't everplan to part with you," She softly strokes the side of Hermione's cheek. Her gaze drops back down to her hand. She lets out a sigh of relief. "For a second there, I 'onestly thought I would lose it."
Hermione frowns. "Were you trying to … at the task today, Harry told me .." She tries to find the right question to ask. "What happened?"
Fleur gathers her thoughts for a moment, her eyes looking up at the ceiling as she does so. "I was having some trouble with some Grindylows and my ring got knocked off during the struggle. That about sums it up." she states simply and chuckles as Hermione looks at her unsatisfied.
"Were you the one that saved me?"
"Well…" Fleur looks off thoughtfully. "Sort of, I tried. I managed to cut the rope tying you down. I figured since I might be having some trouble with the creatures I thought I should at least unbind you so that you may get to safety first." Hermione's gaze saddens and she tries to smile for her. "Cheri?"
Hermione's eyes fall to the ground and she frowns. "These tasks are really dangerous after all.. And to think… what if Harry didn't go after you? You could've-"
"But I'm fine, that's what counts, right?" Fleur points out. " 'ermione, don't dwell on things that could've 'append in the past, focus on the present. And right now, you're with me; and I'm fine."
The brunette sighs and chuckles while shaking her head. "Honestly you are sometimes so carefree, I wonder how you manage."
"Pretty well but.." A sly grin spreads on Fleur's face. "I'd be even better if I got someone to share this bed with. I need some warmth and the blanket is of no 'elp." she whines.
Hermione quirks an eyebrow and laughs. "Well if you're cold then I can ask the nurse to turn up the heat-" she tries to suggest though knowing fully well what Fleur is intending.
"No," Fleur cuts in, her eyes glinting mischievously at her. "I want 'eat," Hermione nods. "By 'uman contact," Exaggerating the roll of her Rs and she bit her lower lip seductively at her. "Mind 'eating me up?"
Eyes nearly bulge out from their sockets as Hermione's jaw drops. "Wh-wh-" She clears her throat.
"C'mere cheri, I'm cold," Fleur says and gestures down at the space beside her with her eyes. "The least you can do is 'elp me no?"
Hermione quickly looks around the room and then back at the blonde. "But what if the nurse comes in?"
"So? It's not like we're doing anything," Fleur replies and smirks.
Nervous eyes scan over the blonde's frame and she gulps. Though Fleur had just received treatment and has damp hair due to the lake, the girl is still as bewitching when dry. Her mind screams at her to say yes though another part argues no. She lets out an exasperated sigh. "Fine," she says as if she were being forced to agree.
The bed slumps when Hermione climbs in as softly as she could into the bed and positions herself to lay on her side but facing her girlfriend. She looks at the other girl in surprise when arms pull her closer and she finds herself staring up into Fleur's mesmerizing deep blue eyes an inch away.
" 'ow can I get warm if you're laying so far over there?" Fleur asks in low voice and grins when she sees a blush come to Hermione's cheeks.
The younger girl shyly smiles at her. "Feeling warmer?"
"Yes but I think it would work better if both of us were naked-"
"Fleur!" Hermione exclaims now fully red in the face as the other girl laughs cheerfully.
A/N: Enjoy the chapter? I'm glad to have done this chapter on time so (phew) Anyway I'll be trying to fit in another chapter in a week as well but I can't be too sure as I have to try to study for exams(and heading to Animazement this weekend) but I'll do what I can. Thank you all again for your reviews, it warms my heart to see that you guys enjoyed it