ᴥ A/N: Hi everyone, this story was put on hold in 2017 at Chapter 13 and I'm here to say I'm back and I've rewritten a lot of it (but kept most of the core the same). To enjoy this story again, I urge you to reread it from the start :)
I'd like to thank my beta readers, LostParkMih and CeMR for being so amazing and helping me get back to this. It would have taken ages otherwise!
Without further ado, here we go!
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Chapter 1: Seeing You For The Very First Time...
Hermione yawned as she closed the book on her lap. She was doing some light reading before going to bed. Gently depositing the tome on her bedside table, she sunk deeper under her blanket and sighed in contentment. She was now Head Girl, an amazing achievement if she dared say so. With that came a few perks, she had her own room, with an ensuite bathroom, meaning no more having to listen to the bickering of roommates around her and no more fighting over who gets the bathroom first...bliss!
First year at Hogwarts had been a mess with the Troll and Professor Quirrel being half Voldemort. Second Year had been even worse for her, being petrified and the Basilisk and Chamber of Secret nonsense. How did Dumbledore not know there was a Basilisk roaming his school baffled her. And then, Third Year, Time-Turner, Buckbeak, Dementors and Sirius, the Prisoner of Azkaban, absolutely nuts! What is even crazier was after those years! Fourth year...nothing, fifth year….nothing, SIXTH year, NOTHING! Three years of absolute normalcy, Hermione and Harry had loved it, Ron not so much. Now here they were in the seventh year, year 2014 and their last year at Hogwarts… What chance did they have for getting a normal year and normal graduation? A big one, right? Since it looked like Voldy had crawled back into the hole he had been hiding. Hermione hoped he stayed right there, she had more important things to worry about like her N.E.W.T.S.
Except life had other plans….
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A cold wind blew through the grounds, from the direction of the Black Lake. It syphoned the warmth of the cloaked mass of students, huddled together to form some sort of barrier against the arctic air. Yet the freezing wind did not cool down their excitement as their eyes scanned the horizons eagerly for the arrivals of the foreign schools joining them this year, on the event of the most famous Triwizard Tournament. In front of them stood their ever-patient Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, seeming unperturbed by the freezing temperatures.
They watched their Gamekeeper, Hagrid, standing on the plains closest to the Forbidden Forest, some sort of flare in each hand.
"Ah, here comes Durmstrang!" announced Dumbledore, pointing at the lake.
The students turned to find what looked like a small sailboat, with a short mast and only one sail spread out, gliding on the water of the Black Lake.
"It's small," pointed out Ron, flanked by Harry and Hermione. The Gryffindor trio was, as always, grouped amongst their other classmates.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the water around the boat started bubbling and the boat itself rose higher out of the lake. The water started cascading around it like waterfalls, revealing more masts till a full Man-O-War emerged from underneath the Black Lake, much to the astonishment of the students watching. The battleship was square-rigged and its sails at full mast, powering the boat forward through the waters. After the ship had come close enough to land, the students could see anchors being thrown out and a gangplank extended to allow them to disembark.
"And there is Beauxbatons!" Dumbledore lifted his head to look up into the sky.
"It's a dragon!" shouted one boy, looking at the large object looming above the treetops of the Forbidden Forest.
But it was not. As the object flew closer, the students could start to discern, what was, a very large powder blue and white carriage being drawn by a dozen majestic Abraxan horses. The horses flapped their large wings powerfully, pulling the carriage closer as the Hogwarts students watched in awe. Hagrid started to make weird directional gestures with his flares as the horses went over him to land on the soggy plain, hooves thundering to a stop.
"Wow!" voiced out a few as they watched the horses neigh as they lowered their wings, the carriage coming to a full halt, gleaming in the setting sun that was slowly dipping into the horizon.
"Let's go inside to greet them properly," directed Dumbledore as he turned on his heel to enter the castle. Teachers manoeuvred the overexcited students into the Great Hall.
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The Great Hall was buzzing with anticipation. A palpable sense of excitement filled the air. The Hogwarts students were quite eager to meet the foreigners.
A small tap of a wand in the front of the Hall turned all heads to Dumbledore, who had gotten up from his seat to address the students.
"Dear students of Hogwarts. We have the privilege this year to have amongst us, students from two prestigious foreign schools. I would like to announce our newcomers. To honour us with their presence are the Warriors of Durmstrang Institute with their Headmaster, Karkaroff," announced Dumbledore. The massive oak doors swung open and in came, marching into the hall, the Durmstrang Headmaster and his boys dressed in blood-red robes with heavy fur cloaks and military styled trooper hats. In their right hands, their staffs sparked fire at every rhythmically synchronised knock on the floor while in their left arms, they held armour shields that depicted their school crests. A fire phoenix was conjured by one of the students, gliding over their heads before exploding into a ball of fire and sparks in front of Professor Dumbledore with a piercing cry. The Bulgarians stopped in front of the hall as their Headmaster, Karkaroff shook hands with Dumbledore. Hogwarts students clapped and whooped, everyone pinpointing the presence of the seeker of the National Bulgarian Team, Victor Krum amongst the Durmstrang students.
"That's Victor Krum!" gushed Ron at the Gryffindor table, "make space, Hermione!" he said urgently as he pushed the girl to shuffle, watching the Durmstrangs look around for seats. "Too late," he gritted his teeth when the foreigners seated themselves at the Slytherin table. He got even angrier at the face of pure superiority that Draco Malfoy shot at him for having the Bulgarian Seeker at his table.
"And now may I present to you, coming from France, the musketeers of Beauxbatons Academy of Magic with their Headmistress, Madame Maxime!" the voice of Dumbledore boomed into the Great Hall and the gigantic oak doors swung open again, letting in a delegation of girls, their steps echoing around the hall as their knee-high black leather boots hit the floor in sync in their military march. They were paired, walking beside each other.
All were dressed in azure blue jackets with fancy gold and blue puff shoulders and navy blue full-length stretch trousers that ended in their mid-length black boots. Fluttering behind them were midnight blue lined capes, embroidered with a large Beauxbatons school crest. Each girl had a musket, strapped to their backs. Their jackets were secured to their waists by thick dark buckskin belts, each with a silver school crest buckle, which had attached on the side, a rapier each in its scabbard. On their head, they wore Cavalier's hats, adorned with a silvery plume. One of the girls in front was different from the others for she had two rapiers secured on each side of the hips, a golden crest buckle on her belt instead.
All the girls pulled out their rapiers, turned to face their side partners and clanged their weapons together above their heads, creating a tunnel of swords, the scrapping metal creating spark showers.
Then a shot was heard and multiple blue and silver birds shot out of the door, zooming over the Great Hall before bursting into a firework display. All the girls lined up on each side of the path, sheathing their swords and bowing to one knee. Students looked at what had created the sound and eyes widened as they found a huge gigantic woman, dressed in what could be called a larger and more embellished version of what the girls were wearing, for it had a longer jacket, encrusted with gems. Held in her hand was a smoking blunderbuss.
The giant woman holstered her pistol and walked towards Dumbledore, each pair of students standing up and lining up behind the Headmistress as she passed them.
Fleur reigned in the excitement that she felt as soon as she entered the massive hall with the sky reflected onto its ceiling and candles floating all around. With the practised ease of a well-trained athlete, she performed her steps of the entrance number without a problem. As she finished the entrance number in sync with her schoolmates, she felt the weight of hundreds of eyes on her. The Veela in her sure did attract a lot of attention. Dumbledore kissed the hand of her headmistress Madame Maxime, who directed them to sit at the Ravenclaw table.
As she seated herself at the table, her heart lurched as the vision, in front of her, robbed her of all breath. Mon Dieu!
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"BLIMEY! She's gorgeous!" gasped Ron, his mouth agape.
Hermione, turning her head from the giant woman to face the redhead, wrinkled her nose in disgust at the sight in front of her. "Close your mouth, Ron! It's disgusting!" she scolded, throwing a napkin at the boy so he could wipe the drool that was dripping off his chin. Looking back up, she saw the performance to the end and realised, as the Beauxbatons girls seated themselves at the Ravenclaw table that most of the boys were having glazed and drooling faces similar to Ron. Eyeing past Ginny to see which one of the Beauxbatons girls exactly had caught Ron's attention, her eyes met icy blue.
The girl was indeed gorgeous, with long blonde hair tied into a tight ponytail, a fair-skinned face and a pair of icy blue eyes, piercing from under the brim of her plumed hat but something about her rubbed Hermione wrong. Mostly the fact that all the boys were behaving like gits as soon as they saw her. I mean, yeah she is pretty, but no need to drool! She was also largely unhappy because Ron was behaving like the biggest git of all. He had been interested in her for quite a while now but had not made the first step. She was a bit affronted at him being so easily swayed to someone else. Sending a murderous glare to the azure eyes that were still on her, she turned her attention back to the book she had opened in front of her, still keeping an ear on her friends' conversation.
"Oh, why don't make them like that in Hogwarts?" sighed the redhead as he whispered to Harry, "I would have totally asked her out!"
Harry squirmed in his seat, not wanting to get stuck in whatever was happening between his two best friends.
"Oh, Harry! I can't believe we have Victor Krum in our school for a year!" shouted Ron, elbowing his dark-haired friend in the ribs with eagerness. Harry sighed in relief, happy for the topic change.
"Yeah, I can't believe it either," Harry replied, a little excited about the world-class player himself, which prompted Ron to start his rambling about the Quidditch player.
Looking to where Ron's eyes were currently glued, Hermione saw the Bulgarian Seeker she had seen at the World Cup when she went with the boys. The guy turned and met her gaze with his pitch-black eyes, a weird gleam in them. A shiver ran across Hermione's spine in response. Creepy…
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Fleur was shaken out of her daze by the glare sent her way. Taking her hat off, she looked behind her, finding the Slytherin table. Did she glare at me or someone behind me? …Can't be me, she doesn't know me yet. Pleased with her reasoning, she focused back on the bushy brown hair girl at the Gryffindor table. The more she stared, the more she couldn't believe her eyes. She iz simply magnificent! Quelle beauté. The chocolate eyes from the other table met with her own again and she averted her eyes to stare at the wood grain patterns on the table, tracing them gently with her fingers, while blushing bashfully, the pink spreading over her pale cheeks as a sheepish smile broke onto her face.
Alexia Delacour turned to her weirdly behaving cousin sitting next to her. "Qu'est-ce que tu fais, Fleur?" ["What are you doing, Fleur?"]
"Huh? Moi? Rien," ["Huh? Me? Nothing."] replied Fleur as she kept her focus on the wood of the table.
Looking up to where her cousin had been stealing looks at earlier, she saw Harry Potter talking to other Gryffindors, a redhead guy and a brown-haired girl. Probably his friends.
"Est ce que ce garçon roux te plaît or est ce que c'est 'Arry Potter?" ["Do you like the redhead guy or is it Harry Potter?"] Alexia asked, now amused at the thought.
Fleur's head whipped to her direction so fast, Alexia felt it was going to detach from her neck and fly away. "Mais de quoi est-ce tu parles?! Je ne suis pas intéressée de ces garçons!" ["But what are you talking about?! I'm not interested in those boys!"]
"Hmm…" turning to look back at the Gryffindor table, she found a bushy-haired girl looking at her friend warily. "Alors, est ce que c'est la fille qui te regarde?" ["Then is it the girl who is looking at you?"]
"Elle me regarde?!" ["She is looking at me?!"] She exclaimed, turning to look back at the Gryffindor table and as soon as the chocolate eyes met hers, she blushed hotly and went back to inspecting the wood grain of the table.
Alexia would have laughed outright at the faces her normally stoic cousin was making, it was hilarious! With a highly pleased face, she grasped Fleur's chin and turned her face towards her. "Alors, c'est la brunette!" ["So, it is the brunette!"] Looking at the furiously blushing face in front of her, she patted a flushed cheek before adding "Pas mal, elle est belle!" ["Not bad, she is beautiful!"]
Fleur felt her face warm up even more. She could see her other cousins and classmates who had been listening to the conversation between her and Alexia, giggling, turning to eye the brunette on the other table and congratulating her on her good choice. Mon Dieu, they are all so insufferable! She huffed but the giggling and whispering around her just intensified.
"If you don't mind me asking," asked an Asian girl with straight jet black hair, sitting on her other side, "what has got you lot laughing like that? Cho Chang, by the way," the girl extended a hand towards her.
"Fleur Delacour" she replied, shaking her hand of the asian girl.
"And Alexia Delacour" replied Alexia as she shook the girl's hand as well. "My cousin 'ere was wondering who iz ze brunette sitting next to 'Arry Potter over zhere."
Cho turned to check who Alexia was talking about, "Oh, that is Hermione Granger, one of Harry Potter's best friends and the most brilliant witch of her age at Hogwarts," she explained.
'Ermione Granger... Fleur's lips quirked into a small smile. It was a beautiful name.
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Hermione had been warily watching the blue-eyed blonde who averted her eyes as her cheeks turned red. Then she saw how one of the other Beauxbatons girls started speaking to her and soon enough, she had the other girl's eyes on her. She observed how, as the conversation between the two French girls progressed, the blonde's reddened even more. Was she getting angry? And in a matter of seconds, she was having most of the Beauxbatons students' eyes on her, peeking at her or even blatantly staring while giggling.
What in the bloody hell is so funny?! She huffed, breaking her gaze from the Ravenclaw table. She turned her attention to Ginny, Ron and Harry as they talked about Quidditch and Victor Krum when the main doors opened and in came Barty Crouch and Ludo Bagman. They both walked to settle themselves in two empty chairs next to the headmaster. Interestingly, there was still one empty chair at the teacher's table.
"Now that all our guests are present. I would like to say that Quidditch this year is cancelled," A roar of disapproval burst through the hall, "instead," he added, "we will have a knock-out competition between the four Hogwarts' Quidditch teams joined by the Beauxbatons and Durmstrang teams"
"Oh Harry, there is no way any other team than Durmstrang is winning! They have Victor Krum!" said Ron, thrilled to be getting the chance to see his idol in action at such close range.
Dumbledore continued, "Since there are only six teams, last season's Champions Gryffindor and runner-up, Ravenclaw qualify immediately for the Semi-Finals. The first match will be Beauxbatons vs Slytherin and then we will have Durmstrang vs Hufflepuff.
The murmurs of "awesome!", "not fair!" and "Victor Krum" that were erupting from the Hogwarts tables were an indication that a lot of minds were thinking alike.
Suddenly, the enchanted ceiling changed and lightning flashed around the hall followed by a deafening rumble of thunder. The doors of the Great Hall slammed open and in walked a man, shrouded in a black cloak, a long staff in his hand. All heads in the Great Hall turned towards the stranger as a flash of lightning illuminated his grim face and his long mane of grey hair. He began to limp heavily towards the teachers' table, a dull clunk echoing with his every other step.
A brighter flash of lightning illuminated his heavily scarred face to the horror of the students but what was more frightening about him was his eyes. One of them, beady and dark as coal while the other was round, large and electric blue, erratically moving around without blinking. It rolled from side to side and up and down, its movements quite independent to the normal eye. As he reached Dumbledore, he extended his hand which Dumbledore shook before gesturing him towards the empty seat at the teachers' table. Dumbledore flicked his hand to the enchanted ceiling and the weather cleared.
"May I introduce you to this year's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher," said Dumbledore brightly, "Professor Moody." Hermione shook her head. Even with nothing crazy happening for three years, the Curse of the DADA position was still ongoing.
"Also," continued Dumbledore, not bothered by the absolute silence that succeeded Moody's entrance, "I would like to formally announce that Hogwarts has been chosen for the honour of hosting and inaugurating the reinsertion of the Triwizard Tournament. It is a legendary event, consisting of three champions being chosen from the three different schools to perform three different tasks. It had been put on hold for the last hundred years due to casualties having occurred during the tasks which are why the Ministry of Magic is keeping a close eye on the event this year to make sure that the difficulty of the tasks are upheld while the safety of students is put above all." Murmurs erupted once again within the student masses.
With a flick of his hand, the cloak that had been hiding an inconspicuous object at the corner of the hall fell, revealing a goblet, holding a blue flame, on a pedestal. "As I said, for the safety of students, there have been changes implemented into the Tournament. I leave Mr Barty Crouch, from the Ministry of Magic to give you more details on the rules and regulations," finished Dumbledore as he went back to his seat and Crouch took his place in front of the assembly of students.
"As Dumbledore said, the Ministry of Magic has added new rules and regulations to the Tournament to make sure of the survivability of students participating. The Triwizard Tournament is a dangerous competition. Anyone willing to participate must be in their seventh year at their respective schools…" The statement was met with a lot of groans from the younger students. "To enter the Tournament, simply write your name on a piece of parchment and feed it to the flames. An age shield ward has been added around the Goblet to ensure that no one under the age limit prescribed can enter the Tournament. Like I said before, this Tournament is a dangerous one and if one is chosen as a Champion to represent his or her school, one is legally and magically bound in a contract to participate in the Tournament, there is no quitting which is why I advise students to think carefully before putting their names into the Goblet of Fire. Thank you," he said before returning to his seat.
"Now that everything has been explained. I wish you a good dinner," said Dumbledore, clapping his hands.
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Plates and bowls of food popped onto the table, shocking the foreign students around. Checking the dishes, they were pleased to find that it didn't only consist of English food but also food from their own home country. Soon the hall was filled with the din of cutlery and conversation as everyone started their dinner.
"What is that?" asked Ron, eyeing the pot of 'soup' in front of him warily.
"It is bouillabaisse," responded Hermione, reaching out to her cup of pumpkin juice to take a sip.
"Bless you," replied Ron.
"It's French," said Hermione exasperated, "It's really good. I had it when I was on holiday in France."
"I'll take your word for it," murmured Ron, reaching for his traditional English grub while Harry asked Hermione, "You have been to France?"
"Yes. I went there when I was…"
"Excusez moi?"
The lilting voice in front of the Trio made them look up. There, in front of them was standing the French girl that everyone was drooling about. She sure is more beautiful up close, thought Hermione.
"Yes, how may we help you?" asked Harry politely. Hermione was pleased to see that he was one of the rare boys who was not salivating over the blonde. Ron, on the other hand, had turned a harsh shade of purple and was already having his mouth contents dribbling all over him.
Shyly, the French blonde continued, "My name iz Fleur Delacour and I wanted to know if you 'ave finished wiz ze Bouillabaisse. Our table seems to 'ave run out," Fleur asked politely with a prominent French accent.
"I am Harry Potter and these are my friends, Hermione Granger, Ginny Weasley and her brother Ron Weasley," presented Harry smilingly. Ginny gave the blonde a small smile, Ron kept staring with his mouth agape while Hermione folded her arms over her chest and gave a small nod.
"You can have the Bouillabaisse," grumbled Hermione, grabbing the pot and shoving it into the French's hands.
"It was delicious!" commented Ron forcefully.
"Zank you. It waz nice meeting you, Monsieur Potter and Weazley and also Mademoiselle Weazley and Granger," said Fleur, giving a polite bow to the people in front of her with a small smile before turning to return to her table.
"Holy hell! She said my name!" exclaimed Ron with awe as he stared at the blonde, walking away.
"She only said your surname, you daft!" said Ginny, whacking her brother on the head, "and I have the same surname as you" she continued, disgusted by the boy's behaviour.
Soon dinner was over with most of it spent listening to Ron's raving about Krum and Fleur. Hermione and Ginny separated themselves from the redhead to walk back to the Common Room. Harry, on the other hand, was stuck with Ron trying to get a last glance of Fleur as she exited the Great Hall to go back to the Beauxbatons carriage, which also served as the girls' sleeping quarters.
"Sorry for my brother," said Ginny as they entered the Common Room.
"You don't have to apologise for your brother being a prat, Ginny," Hermione replied as she walked to the portrait within the Common Room that gave her direct access to her private Head Girl Room.
"I feel like I have to," shrugged the redhead, "let's go to bed before we have to deal with him again."
Hermione laughed and hugged the redhead goodnight before disappearing behind the portrait.
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Settling in her bed, under her covers, Fleur relished the warmth. The walk back to the carriage had been unpleasant because the weather in England was mostly cold at this time of the year, something the students of Beauxbatons hadn't taken into consideration when they wore their uniforms. Their uniforms, adapted to the weather they had at Beauxbatons which was situated in the warmer region of France, were thin and not made to brave the cold of England. Guess she will have to wear more layers underneath her uniform from now on and a thick cloak instead of the usual cape. Thankfully she didn't have to change from her usual sleepwear of tank top and shorts to thicker pyjamas as fireplaces had popped in all bedrooms.
She had just bid her younger sister, Gabrielle, goodnight. The younger blonde was like a mischievous smaller copy of her with lighter silver-blonde hair but darker blue eyes. Gabrielle had been sitting at the other end of the Beauxbatons students talking shyly to one senior girl she admired but had managed to hear the gossip about the bushy brown haired girl that Fleur had started to fancy at first sight and had wanted details as soon as they had exited the castle. Fleur had managed to calm the excitement of her sister, telling her that she was tired and would explain later. She didn't even know what was it all about herself, how could she explain it to her sibling?
Burrowing deeper into her blanket, Fleur's mind went back to the Gryffindor with the most beautiful chocolate eyes she had ever seen. 'Ermione Granger… The name sent a chill through her spine and she shivered. The name was beautiful and suited the beautiful girl. The Veela didn't know what exactly she was feeling. Throughout her childhood, her grandmother and mother had explained to her about the ways of the Veela and a lot about how Veela had one mate that they would love for their whole life and that she would know as soon as she saw the person, who would be unaffected by her thrall. Her feelings have been jumbled since she set her eyes on the Gryffindor girl. She wasn't sure if the girl was unaffected by her thrall for there were different types of behaviours that her thrall triggered in people. The glazed eye awe and lust that affected both boys and girls but also the deep-seated jealousy and envy that affected mostly girls that she was unfamiliar with. As soon as she became friends with someone, the effects of the thrall would diminish onto the person. Some people were only mildly affected by her thrall like Harry Potter, who had blushed a little bit when she had talked to him but that was it, same for Ginny Weasley which her Maman had explained was most probably due to those people already liking someone else. Some were not affected at all, other Veela and their mates in that category.
Hermione's behaviour, on the other side, had been different. Fleur hadn't felt any envy or jealousy from the girl yet she couldn't determine why the girl had glared and been abrupt with her. She had been hurt by the behaviour of the girl but had managed to hide it behind a small smile. Fleur felt a little flower of fear budding inside her. Fear that the brown-haired girl just simply didn't like her. She knew what her heart was telling her but she was having trouble wrapping her mind around it. Could it be…? Have I found my one…? I wish grand-mère and Maman were here… I should maybe write to them soon. Sighing, she closed her eyes, trying to will herself to sleep. With one last thought in her mind, she drifted to sleep, 'Ermione...