Flower of the Heart

"What?" Ron's mouth was hanging open, and the peas he had
just placed there were rolling onto his lap.

"I'm afraid so, Ron," Hermione told him matter-of-factly. It hurt
her to see him so hurt so she went into her well-I-know-what-I'm-
talking-about-better-than-you mode so that she could distract herself
from his face. "It's just not working out."

"The hell it's not!" thought Ron angrily. "She wasn't
complaining last nght...."

He tried valiantly not to look at Hermione. Instead, he
looked around the high table at is fellow teachers. On Ron's other
side was Harry, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Sitting
besied Harry was the new Charms teacher, Fleur Delacour. At this point
in time she was staring unblinkingly at Ron. Everyone knew she had
been smitten with Ron since her first day when she was giving her
acceptance speech, saw Ron, stopped, and placed both her elbows in her
plate without noticing. He turned his gaze to the other side of
Hermione. There sat Snape, still working, since he had started taking
this Stay-Young potion he discovered so that he could hang around the
school for even longer. Sitting next to him was the Quidditch teacher
Alicia Spinnet. Hary was gazing at her now, in fact. He had dumped Cho
two years ago because he wanted to be with her so badly. There were
more teachers, but Ron had given up and turned to talk to the
Arithmancy teacher.

"Hermione..."he trailed off. What could he say? "Hermione,
can you tell me just why it isn't working out?"

"It just isn't Ron," she told him. "We're just not right
for eachother."

"Whatever, Hermione," Ron said, quite unsatisfied with
Hermione's answer. "Harry, can we trade seats?"

"Hmm?!" Harry replied. (He had been spacing over Alicia.)
"Oh, of course."

The second Ron sat down Fleur began talking to him. "Why
did you trade seats with Harry?" she asked. She tried to look
concerned, but she still looked quite hopeful. "Is there something
wrong with you and Hermione?"

"Yeah," Ron explained. "We just broke up."

"Oh no!" Fleur exclaimed, her face working hard not to
burst into a smile. "Do you want to discuss it over coffee?"

Ron thought about that for a little. Coffee wasn't going to
kill him, right? Then another thought crawled into his head. "Maybe,"
the thought said, "you can make it obvious that you and Fleur are
dating to Hermione. Then you can make Hermione jelous and come back to
you!"
"Sure," Ron said aloud to Fleur, making his final decision.
"Sure Fleur, I'd love to."

Fleur beamed so much it looked like the sun was sitting on
her shoulders. "Great!" Fleur practically squealed. "then we can meet
in your classroom after class is over!"

*~*~*

Later on that evning Ron was waiting in hos now-empty
classroom for Fleur. He didn't understand what was taking her so long;
her classroom was only a floor above his Transfiguration one. When
Fleur arrived however, he understood why.

Fleur looked spictacular. She had not gone straight to his
room like he had assumed she would. She was wearing red robes that fit
not-so-modestly around her that were made of a silky, flowy material.
It was, of course scoop-necked, just like everyhing else she owned.
There was silver lace around the cuffs and neckline. Her hair was
nicer than ever. It still flowed behind her, but she had curled up the
ends and sides around her face.

All Ron was able to do was stare. Fleur alwyas looked good
(She was part veela, after all) but never like this. She didn't even
look this good for the Yule Ball in their fourth year. I mean, Ron
knew she liked him, but she really outdid herslef for him. If he could
think, he would have been quite complimented.

"Are you ready to go, Ron?" she asked, smiling inwardly at
the look on his face.

"Y-yeah," Ron managed to studder through his tight throat.
"Le-let's go n-now."

As they were walking through Hogsmeade, people stared a lot
at Fleur. She hardly noticed. Her mind was fixed completley on Ron,
memorizing every freckle, every lock of satiny red hair...everything.
She'd loved him since he'd "saved her sister from the lake" during the
second task. Ahh, she'd give anything just to kiss him again-

"Fleur?" Ron asked as they reached the door and he held it
open for her as she simply gazed at him. "Fleur, we're here."

She jerked her head gracefully from it's dazed position.
"Oh, thank you for holding the door, Ron."

She replied, feeling herself begnning to blush. That
surprised her. Veelas don't blush....

She walked in, seeming just to glide. When she entered,
everything went quiet. Fleur, feeling even more embarassed, sat down
at the nearst table and flicked her hair as Ron joined her.

"So," she said, almost buisness-like. "What is the deal with
you and Hermione?"


He began explaining everything to her, feeling she should
know all. (Except, of course, the part about the making Hermione
jelous part.) She listened very seriously with rapt attention.

"Seems to me," Fleur said when he had finished, "That your
problem was that you didn't comunicate enough if she wouldn't give
a reason. It is all on her part, of course."

Ron thought he heard her mumble, "That wouldn't happen with
me...."

The rest of the night they had a great time. Fleur had
finally gotten Ron to dance with her, (after much nagging and charm
releasing) and now he wouldn't let go of her. She had succesfully
gotten him to stop thinking about Hermione. Once she had, everythng
else was smooth sailing.

*~*~*

While Ron was saying good night to Fleur, Hermione just
happened to pass. He said very loudly,"I had a great time tonight!"
and he kissed Fleur a little more intense then he meant to, but that
was ok: Hermione would get more jelous the closer they beacme.


But did he still want to make Hermione jelous? He did miss
Hermione, her soft curls, her gentle smile, her curtious laugh....But
then there was Fleur. He really had had a great time tonight. And he
wouldn't soon forget her deep saphire eyes, that silvery hair, that
fun-loving attitude...the way he had felt when he kissed her....
Arriving at his office he decided not to worry about it now, he needed
some sleep.

*~*~*

At lunch the next day he tried to tell Harry what was going
on. He sat with him.

"Harry?" Ron asked. Harry jerked out of his Alicia gaze to
see what Ron had to say and hoping it was short. "Harry, I think I
have a problem."

"Your Hermione problem?" he said disgrunteledly. "Yes, I
think we all know." And with that Ron couldn't get another word from
him.

"Ron?" Hermione asked. "I saw you kissing Fleur last
night-" Ron perked up. "Why didn't you tell me you might get together
with her? Just because we broke up doesn't mean we're not still
friends."

Ron smiled. "I know it doesn't Hermione. I just didn't
wanna tell anyone until I was sure I liked her. I'm still not sure.
Should I ask her to dinner?"

"Sure," came Fleur's voice from behind him. She had just
walked by when he said that. "Well, are you going to, Ronnie?" Ron
spun around in his seat, smiling.

"Of course. Fleur, do you want to go to dinner tonight?"

"Let me think about it," Fleur replied. Then, laughing at
the look on Ron's face she said,"Joking, joking, of course I'll come!"

*~*~*

While Ron was walking to Fleur's office to pick her up, he heard
Hermione's voice from an ajar door.

"...Ove you." was all he cought. To his suprise Snape's voice
answered.

"Hermione, I can't do this with you."

Ron peered inside the ajar door and the scene that met his eyes
suprised him. Snape appeared to be pushing hermione away, her lips
puckered out in font of her. Snape looked extreamly uncomfortable.

"Why not?" Hermione pleaded.

"Many reasons. One, I don't like you like that. Two, I hardly
know you, and three I'm way too old for you-"

"Aaah...."Hermione pointed out. "But you've been taking a stay-
Young potion that-"

"Only makes me look young. Under it all I'm still old. Very old.
And you're just too young for me."