Author note: You might be thinking to yourself, doesn't she always contribute at least one angsty fic to fleurmione week? And only one fic this time? Unfortunately, stress and lack of time won out this time, friends, sorry. But don't worry, angst is in the pipeline. ;) Just gotta finish Tender is the Night first.
Aging some characters up. Triwizard set during Hermione's sixth year, Ginny's in fifth year, Gabrielle is 13 years old. No Voldemort, no horcruxes, Harry's not a champion. Humor. Crack. Lighthearted fun.
There are more than two dozen new fics over at ao3 thanks to this month's fleurmione week. Check the tumblr for the prompts and links. fleurmioneweek dot tumblr dot com
Day 7: Free day
Floating prompt: Doing muggle things together
Ginny rushes into the Great Hall. She's late for lunch and just before she reaches her usual spot at the Gryffindor table, she stops short, the strap of her bag sliding off her shoulder and catching on the crook of her arm.
She blinks. She rubs her eyes. Nope. Still there. Looking around, she sees a strange dichotomy between those actively staring and those outright ignoring what's happening right in front of them (in other words, they're watching, too). Her eyes dart towards the professors. Not one of them seems bothered by the display.
Which means it's up to her to figure out what the bloody hell is going on.
The redhead moves closer so she can whisper without too many eavesdroppers.
"'Mione, what are you doing on Fleur's lap?"
That's right. Hermione Granger, her best mate and smartest girl at Hogwarts, has her bum planted on the lap of one Fleur Delacour, Beauxbatons champion for the Triwizard Death Trap, and walking sex incarnate.
When an answer doesn't seem forthcoming, Ginny glares at the blonde.
"What does it look like? It's lunchtime and I am feeding her in the muggle way," says Fleur. After speaking, the blonde tsks and rolls her eyes, as if Ginny is the one that should know better. Another grape is carefully fed to Hermione.
But what has Ginny dropping her bag to the floor is the kiss that Fleur places on Hermione's cheek.
Snuggling into the Veela, the brunette says lightly, "Yeah Gin, I told you about how muggles eat on their friends' laps and receive kisses after every bite." Hermione smiles shyly at Fleur but when she turns to Ginny, her expression is pointed. "Remember?"
Now… Ginny isn't stupid. But she also recalls all the strange stories her dad has told them over the years about muggles and muggle devices. Hermione has done her best to correct the Weasleys' knowledge of the non-magical world but maybe this is something that Ginny missed because she wasn't paying attention. A likely scenario, to be honest. Hey, sometimes the bookworm took rambling about various subjects to a whole other level.
Surely Harry would've mentioned it, though. She glances at her crush, who is sitting with Ron several spaces down and doing their level best to look like they're ignoring the canoodling happening within view of everyone in the Great Hall. Catching his eye, he blushes and shrugs and turns away from her.
No help from Harry, then.
She sighs but then bites back a smile. He's still cute even if he is a coward when it comes to this sort of thing.
Turning back to Hermione, she thinks over her answer to the question. Does she remember?
In the stare-off between them, Ginny lifts her chin up a smidge and widens her eyes slightly. Questioning.
Hermione tilts her head down and her eyes narrow. Answering.
Oblivious to the wordless conversation between the two girls, Fleur asks, "Another one, mon amie?
The blonde feeds the witch another grape, then kisses her on the corner of her mouth.
Fuck it.
"Oi! Harry! Show me how muggle eating works!"
*::::*
Fleur and her sister Gabrielle walk into the Great Hall for dinner. Due to her extended training sessions with Madame Maxime in preparation for the second task, it is the first time she's been able to have dinner in the Great Hall in a couple of weeks, and they arrive just as students are loading up their plates. As they walk to their usual spots at the Ravenclaw table, Fleur notices what's on the platters of food. She is not happy with the presence of yet another roast with piles of potatoes, but she is intrigued by what looks to be a soup. A bisque, to be exact. Perhaps tonight's dinner isn't a lost cause.
Her evening further brightens when she is approached by the witch who has occupied her thoughts and dreams for the last few months.
"Hi Fleur," says Hermione.
Merde, she's so pretty! How can someone be this pretty?
Fleur tries to calm her racing heart.
"Good evening, Hermione," she answers, and mentally pats herself on the back. There. That is a perfectly suave response with no falling over feet whatsoever.
"Hello to you, too," chimes in her little sister in a sarcastic tone. The little shit.
Her adorable witch looks down and rubs the toe of her shoe into the stone floor. Fleur would swoon at the girl's bashfulness but that would give Gabrielle more ammunition against her so she just smiles patiently.
"Um… I was feeling homesick again, and I was wondering if you would like to –"
"Oui, of course," Fleur interrupts a little too enthusiastically. This time she doesn't care what her sister sees because she will soon have her witch in her arms. "There is a soup today. I might have to frequently wipe your mouth."
As intended, the girl blushes at her words, and says, "Yeah."
Fleur melts but maintains her confident air. "I'll see you over there in a minute."
The witch smiles and spins around excitedly to head over to her table.
High on a fluffy cloud, Fleur absentmindedly turns to her sister.
"Muggle eating again?" asks Gabrielle, her expression bored.
"The tournament is about fostering international friendships, oui? Learning the ways of others?"
She smiles to herself, dreaming of all the kisses she's going to place on Hermione's face while she feeds her the soup. The mischievous smirk on her sister's face goes unseen.
"Should I tell her about how Maman insisted that we be relatively knowledgeable in most European non-magiques habits and cultures before we started school?"
At once, Fleur's posture straightens and she squares up to fully face Gabrielle, her left hand coming to rest haughtily on her hip. The smile stays on her face but her eyes harden into an icy fury.
She keeps her voice soft, her tone light. Her words, however, are anything but.
"If you ruin this for me, Gabrielle, I will sabotage every romance in your future all the way up until you are on your death bed."
The younger French witch answers by batting her lashes innocently, a demure smile on her face full of false sweetness.
Fleur quirks up an eyebrow at the unexpected response.
If the little monster intended to push it, she would have made another sarcastic remark. Fleur nods and takes it as the concession it is, although she is under no delusion that it won't come up again. Additional ways to ensure her sister's silence will be needed. But she'll think more on that later. Right now, she has a 'homesick' witch to comfort.
Flipping her hair as she turns, Fleur gracefully walks over to sit at the Gryffindor table. She wraps her arms around Hermione after the witch settles on her lap, both of them sighing happily.
*::::*
Ginny kisses soup off of the corner of Harry's mouth. He is on her lap and is embarrassed beyond belief. Why did he let himself get roped into this? Does he really need Hermione as a best friend?
His grades say yes.
Ron is sitting with Seamus and Dean, and not one of them look at him. They're the only ones, unfortunately. The stares and talk are coming from all directions but it's the laughter from the Slytherin table that stings the most. Then he looks at Ginny's face. The light in her eyes. The firm grip she has on his waist. And he finds himself not minding so much.
With her free hand, Ginny dips the spoon into the soup bowl.
Harry whispers close to her ear. "You don't have to be so messy with the soup, you know."
"Shhh," scolds Ginny in a harsh whisper. "We're doing this to help Hermione, remember? Make this whole muggle eating thing look real?"
The two Gryffindors look across the table at their friend. The witch is smiling adoringly at the Beauxbatons student who is also feeding her soup, the kisses on her cheek and jaw more tender and lingering after each spoonful.
Harry and Ginny turn back to each other and smile. Resigning himself to his fate, he adjusts so that he's more comfortable on the redhead's lap. Hermione will definitely owe him after this.
"Good," says Ginny, bringing up the spoon to his mouth. "Now, open wide… oops, that's another small spill."
He rolls his eyes but leans forward to give Ginny a better angle to kiss away the soup dripping down his chin. Maybe this whole thing isn't so bad after all.
*::::*
Hermione is happy that Fleur didn't get hurt during the second task. Not only that, she was the girl's stolen treasure, and Fleur had to rescue her from the Black Lake. Due to the other champions having trouble with grindylows, the Beauxbatons champion decided to rescue the other two hostages as well, and still made it back within the time limit, because she's a badass witch and there's no reason at all why angry merpeople or stupid grindylows should interfere with her performance. Hmmph.
Even though there was no real danger, an interesting development occurs in the aftermath of the task: Fleur frequently forgets to feed her while she's on her lap at mealtimes.
Not that Hermione is complaining.
Why does the Frenchwoman forget?
Maybe it has to do with all the cuddling they're doing instead.
They're currently in the Great Hall for breakfast and Hermione is on Fleur's lap again. Fleur is nuzzling her face into Hermione's neck, the witch's arms are locked around the Veela, and full plates of food have been long forgotten.
"'Mione?"
Hermione nearly rolls her eyes at Ron for interrupting her time with Fleur but she summons her patience and responds.
"Hmm?"
With a mouth full of food, he manages to say, "I thought you said muggle eating was just feeding and kisses after every bite. When did you add cuddling?"
She stiffens at his phrasing, and at the way his hands went up in air-quotes when he said 'muggle eating'. Ginny was tasked with explaining the situation to her brother so this exact scenario would be averted. And now Fleur might figure out the truth about this whole charade.
It's not as if she intended it to get this far. She didn't intend for it to happen at all. It started off as a throwaway comment in the library to demonstrate how ignorant the wizarding world was about the muggle one. And if the tall tale made the pretty French girl who sat at her table laugh at the ridiculousness, all the better. Hermione didn't really expect Fleur to believe her. But then she did.
What was a witch with a crush to do?
Slowly pulling away from Hermione's neck, Fleur looks up at her then looks at Ron who is sitting to her right. When she turns back to her, the witch could see the gears turning in the Veela's mind.
Shit.
This is it. She's been found out. Fleur won't ever want to speak with her again.
Hermione panics silently, waiting for Fleur to pull the trigger and start what will likely become an epic row in front of the entire student body.
Fleur clears her throat and says softly, "I've heard of a small village in France where les non-magiques cuddle for ten minutes before eating in order to increase appetites."
Her heart stops.
Does Fleur mean…?
She searches blue eyes, which stare back at her hopefully.
The tension falls away from her body, and her lips slowly stretch into a knowing smile. An answering relief and joy appear on Fleur's face, which makes Hermione's smile spread even wider.
"Yeah, that sounds right," Hermione says to Fleur excitedly, her whole body filling up with affection for this brilliant, gorgeous girl who has known this wasn't a real thing the entire time. "I think I've read about that village."
Turning to Ron, she says, "She's just helping me with my appetite."
Ginny, who is sitting to Fleur's left, says under her breath, "If you get any hungrier, French food will be back on the menu soon."
Harry snorts, then eats the fork-full of scrambled egg that Ginny feeds him.
Fleur and Hermione both hear Ginny's comment but they ignore it and happily go back to snuggling.
Considering that Fleur's lips now freely brush against Hermione's neck, it is safe to say that the appetites of both girls increase that morning.
*::::*
It's a Hogsmeade weekend and our favorite Gryffindors are enjoying their drinks, meals, and, er, other activities at the Three Broomsticks. Well, except for Ron, who is still trying to get used to Harry dating his sister. Ron decided to head to Honeydukes and Zonko's with Seamus and Dean.
With Harry on her lap, Ginny gives him a peck on the lips, then turns to her best mate. "It's so great you wanted to teach us about muggle eating, Hermione."
The boy dutifully chews his bite of turkey sandwich and directs heart eyes at the redhead. Yes, thinks Harry. Muggle eating definitely has its perks.
Hermione breaks away from kissing Fleur, heart pounding, her eyes locked on Fleur's swollen lips, one move away from dispensing with their 'muggle eating' pretense altogether and throwing a leg over to straddle the French witch. She pants heavily, "Yeah… So great."
The brunette dives back in, hands tangling in silvery blonde locks.
Pulling the witch closer, Fleur licks her agreement into Hermione's mouth.
:
Madam Rosmerta wipes down part of the bar, rolling her eyes at the stupid teenagers and their latest fads. Muggle eating, pfft, she thinks. What'll they think of next?
The Granger girl and the Veela are definitely pushing it, though.
Then again, she remembers being a randy teenager.
So… as long as their money fills her till, hands stay over clothes in generally respectable positions, and there's no obscene moaning or grinding, they'll be safe from the business end of an ice cold aguamenti charm.
:
From a nearby table, Parvati and Lavender look at the two couples. Harry content with Ginny's simple kisses, and Hermione and Fleur devouring each other.
They exchange looks.
Patting her lap, Parvati says, "Park it here, Lav. Let's see what all the fuss is about with muggle eating."
Lavender, giggling, happily complies.
A/N: Started parts of this as a couple of incorrect quotes posts on my tumblr (lipzlipzlipz) and decided to turn it into some short cuteness for fleurmione week.
Thanks for reading!