Kissing was never something that Hermione gave a lot of importance to before. Connecting that part of the skin with another person always seemed nice and whatever but that's It. Kissing Fleur, however, was another experience.

The girl's lips were so soft it was like being kissed by an angel. Hermione lost her breath just looking at them. And the warmth. Even the slightest brush of those lips was able to cause a wave of heat throughout Hermione's body. They couldn't keep their hands off each other after the first contact. It was like being consumed in the warm embrace of love. It was amazing. It was the thing she would rather be doing right now.

Harry, or as the witch was calling him the boy who deserved a beating for not finding out what the egg did before the last minute, was stealing one of the few moments she still had free. In his defense, she offered to help him find a way to survive underwater. Harry did not even deny he deserved a slap.

"This is useless." Ron said as closing his book with a bang "Why would you want to let your nose hair grow?"

"You could try to transfigure a stone into diving equipment at that point." Hermione was been sarcastic given the boy's difficulty in turning pins into buttons.

"Hermione's girlfriend could at least have offered help," Ron muttered bitterly.

Although the redhead had no problem with his friend's sexuality, he had been making these comments since the Yule Ball ended. Hermione had the theory that he was just incredibly jealous that she had taken Fleur to the dance instead of him. As the comments were mostly harmless and she frankly had more to worry about, like keeping Harry alive, the girl didn't even bother to reply.

"We will find something, we just need more material." Hermione even tried to use Fleur's gift to speed the search a little and ended up finding some enchantment books that might be useful.

Unfortunately, before she could catch them Fred and George appeared looking for Ron and Hermione. This should certainly not lead to anything related to the challenge… right?

The next morning at Great Hall Fleur was a nervous wreck. Hermione did not reply to the message the blonde sent overnight. She knew that the girl was helping Harry so Fleur was trying not to take the lack of reply personally. However, some twisted feeling in the back of her mind was telling her that there was something wrong with all of this.

"Fleur, fuck, stop swinging your leg you will end up opening a hole in the ground if you continue this shit." Diana, despite being very patient, had not had her coffee yet and was very easily irritable.

"Sorry, I'm strangely agitated today."

"Strangely? Girl you are going to swim in a cold lake full of strange creatures for an hour and have to regain your crappy treasure." She took a sip of coffee "I think you are feeling quite normal in the current circumstances."

Fleur bit her lip. The blonde knew Diana was right, but she was also sure it wasn't nervousness what she felt. Nervousness didn't explain the weird sensation in the older girl's chest as if pulling out of the corridors towards something. It was almost like a calling.

Resisting and staying seated until the time of the challenge was making Fleur sweat cold, releasing energy that her body could barely contain. What the hell was even happening with her?

Fortunately, Madame Maxime appeared to take her where the challenge would take place. Despite the turmoil subside with the action, just moving towards the black lake seemed to increase the pull sensation even more. What the hell?

She was so lost inside her mind that Fleur hardly noticed that Harry had arrived breathless just in the nick of time.

"Yeah… Fleur…" The boy needs to exercise more. wait, isn't he part of the quidditch team? "Did you happen to see Hermione or maybe Ron around the castle? I haven't seen them since last night." Never in Fleur's life had a sentence made her blood run cold like the one the boy had said.

Harry hasn't seen his friends since last night. Hermione didn't reply to her message and it was nowhere in sight in the stands. The blonde was going to have to retrieve a treasure from the lake. Her most precious treasure. Her… No!

Rage.

Her body was rapidly being consumed by a murderous rage. Breathing at the speed of a golden snitch she looks intently at the lake. Her blue eyes were nonexistent now, giving way to two silver spheres. Gone was the girl, the creature had finally taken control. You must find her!

"F-Fleur why are you releasing feathers?" Harry did not receive an answer.

She would have been disqualified for jumping into the lake had the start signal not sounded at that exact time.

Find her!

There is a saying among the half veelas, that if the jurors had made the minimum amount of research it would explain why it was a very stupid idea to use each other's loved ones as the treasure.

Diluted blood can gains strength when threatened. Fury may change the eyes. But feathers are only born when you hear the soul calling.

There are few things that would stop a veela in a state of fury. Breathing underwater was not one of them. Which was excellent news as Fleur did not mind playing the bubblehead spell on herself.

She let herself be carried away by the pulling as traveled the lake at superhuman speed. The ferocity that she was found could be felt miles away by the other creatures, who did not dare to get in her way.

The merpeople almost abandoned their posts when they saw the silver eyes approaching. The chief of the tribe briefly cursed Dumbledore. How did no one warn him that a veela was one of the champions? Oh, and apparently they were keeping her mate with them. Well… shit.

"Cousin, we will not get in the way of your heart. Your treasure sleeps and wakes up as they breathe fresh air again." If the chief did not ensure that Fleur's treasure was not in any real danger they hardly knew what could happen. A furious veela was no play.

Luckily for them, the only thing she wanted was to free Hermione. Fleur tore the chain with her long talons like It was made of paper. Grunting to anyone who dared approach she took the girl back to the surface with her. If merpeople sweat they would be soaked, but they live in the water so they are always soaked... The author wasted an opportunity of analogy to make that joke and refuse to edit.

The first thing Hermione saw when she started breathing again was feathers. Several and several amounts of feathers. Her brown eyes met silver and her world stopped.

I called for you.

I answered I will always answer.

When Hermione was taken by a now very persistent half morphed creature to Madam Pomfrey to receive blankets and be inspected for injures the girl couldn't help thinking that she had some sort of conversation with Fleur just now.

Devoid of wings and never leaving Hermione's side, the blonde could barely understand what had just happened. At least her girlfriend didn't freak out about seeing her transformed. How the brunette managed to stay so calm was a mystery. Not even Madame Maxime was trying to get close to Fleur while her eyes didn't return to normal, and the woman is half-giant and the Headmaster of a magical school. But Hermione was holding her hand with talons still present while trying to hold a calming conversation. As if she just simply knew what Fleur needed to calm down when the blonde herself had no idea.

One thing was certain, Fleur would have to write to her grandmother as soon as possible.