By the time Ginny and Gabrielle reached the shore, the sun was nearly setting and Mrs. Weasley had begun preparing dinner. She was making shish kabobs with chicken, onions, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, and zucchini.

"See, I told you we wouldn't kill them, mum," one of the twins said to Mrs. Weasley as Gabrielle and Ginny waded out of the water.

"Yeah, have a little faith in us." Mrs. Weasley gave the twins an unimpressed glance before going back to preparing dinner.

Gabrielle found her towel, wrapping it around her shoulders as she sat down on the sand. Ginny joined her. For a moment they sat together in an awkward silence. Then Gabrielle hesitantly slipped an arm around Ginny's still-damp waist. Ginny smiled and rested her head against Gabrielle's shoulder.

By this time, most of the other people at the beach had gone home. Hermione was sitting on her towel next to Harry, reading a book while Ron talked with Harry about something – Quidditch, probably. Mr. Weasley was talking with Gabrielle's parents, probably interrogating her mother about veela again. According to Ginny, he had a similar fascination with just about anything 'different' from him, though he was especially interested in muggles. Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, and George were all talking together about something. Fleur glanced over at her little sister and, presumably noticing Ginny, grinned and shifted a little closer to Bill. His eyes briefly flicked over to where Ginny and Gabrielle were sitting and he smiled too.

A few minutes later, dinner was ready and they all sat on their towels, eating shish kabobs and drinking butterbeer. The food was good; Mrs. Weasley was a good cook – better than the house elves that did the cooking at their house back in France.

After dinner they packed up and took a port key home. Ginny and Gabrielle went up to bed immediately, though everyone else stayed downstairs to talk. Gabrielle was desperate to be alone with Ginny so they could talk without fear of being overheard and was just as glad that Hermione stayed downstairs with everyone else.

Once in Ginny's room, they got changed in an awkward silence. Gabrielle was half afraid that the only reason Ginny had accepted her kiss was Gabrielle's veela blood. Gods, she hated that. Hated never knowing if someone's positive reaction to her was just because she was part veela or a genuine response to her. Not to mention that unintentionally outing people because of their reaction to her (or lack thereof) was hardly the best feeling in the world. When practically every boy in the school was going all gooey-eyed over her, it was pretty easy to tell why those few who weren't were immune to her. But they, at least, could disguise their lack of interest in her. The girls who took one look at her and went as crazy as most of the boys had no way of easily hiding it. Marie certainly hadn't been able to.

Gabrielle glanced at Ginny again and the girl smiled at her, sitting down on her bed.

"I think your sister noticed us," she said softly.

Gabrielle nodded. "And your brother. So, are you going to… err… tell anyone? Like your parents?"

Ginny looked away. "Not yet."

Gabrielle sat down next to her and Ginny slipped her arms around her waist. "You know you'll have to eventually."

Ginny nodded. "I will. I just… don't want to. Not yet."

"Well, with luck neither Fleur nor Bill will mention anything."

"You know, if Bill and Fleur figure it out on their own, maybe everyone else will, too."

Gabrielle sighed. "I wouldn't count on it. You'll have to talk to them about it eventually. And if, say, your mother walked in here right now and asked you, 'Are you lesbian?' do you think you'd really be able to say yes? Do you think that would be any easier than you walking downstairs and telling her?"

"I guess not," Ginny admitted. "Can we please not talk about this now?"

"Okay."

Ginny smiled and kissed her cheek. Gabrielle got up and slipped into her own bed. "Good-night."

Ginny lay down, closing her eyes. "Night."


Gabrielle and Ginny woke up early the next morning and decided to go flying before having breakfast. The morning air was warm, though not as hot as it would be, and slightly muggy. It smelled of flowers and trees and earth. The two girls took off into the still, warm air. They soared over the Burrow as sunlight streamed down on them.

Gabrielle flew ever so slightly behind Ginny, letting the other girl take the lead. Her two fiery red braids flew out behind her, whipping about her face in the wind.

She led them to the clearing where she and her brothers played Quidditch. They landed, laughing breathlessly and tossing their broomsticks aside. Ginny pulled Gabrielle into the shade of the trees, giggling.

Her eyes were sparkling and her cheeks were flushed with exertion. This close, Gabrielle could see the unprofessional smudges of purple eyeshadow staining her eyelids, the overly shiny gleam of her lips from her lip-gloss, the pale freckles that spotted her face. Somehow, Ginny seemed all the more beautiful for the imperfections, the messily applied makeup – they made her seem younger, more innocent, charming. Gabrielle leaned forwards, lightly touching her lips to Ginny's mouth.

Ginny's lips parted hesitantly and Gabrielle slid her tongue inside, reveling in the sweet, soft warmth of the other girl's mouth. Ginny hesitantly moved her hands to Gabrielle's hips, her fingers running lightly along the curve of her waist. Gabrielle lifted her hands to Ginny's cheeks, caressing her face as their mouths joined.

After a moment that seemed to last a lifetime, Ginny drew back a little, catching her breath.

"You're beautiful," Gabrielle whispered softly.

Ginny giggled. "No I'm not."

"Yes you are. You're lovely."

Ginny shook her head. "No I'm not. I'm too skinny, too short, my hair's always a mess, my breasts are almost nonexistent, I have so many freckles I look like a lizard…"

Gabrielle grinned. "I think your freckles are beautiful – like stars in the night sky."

Ginny giggled. "You're nuts."

"And you have lovely breasts. Having big breasts is annoying – you should be glad yours are so small. You can eat anything you like and you don't gain a pound, you aren't too short, and I think your hair looks lovely."

Ginny shook her head. "What would you know? You're part veela – you're the very definition of beautiful."

"I'm some straight boy's dream girl. That's different. You're genuinely beautiful, and it has nothing to do with magic."

Ginny smiled and kissed her again. "We'd better get back before my parents get worried."

Gabrielle nodded and they found their broomsticks and returned to the Burrow.




After dinner that evening, Fleur came into Ginny's room. Ginny was taking a shower and Hermione was still downstairs with Harry. Gabrielle was already ready for bed. She looked up from brushing her hair as Fleur entered the room.

"Hey Gabby," Fleur greeted her in French. She knelt down behind Gabrielle, taking the brush from her sister's hands and began carefully brushing Gabrielle's hair herself. When they were little, Fleur had always brushed Gabrielle's hair before they went to bed because their mother was usually too busy to even kiss them goodnight. Now she only brushed Gabrielle's hair when she wanted to talk to her about something personal. "You seem to have gotten… close to Ginny," Fleur said softly.

Gabrielle nodded slightly. "Yeah. She's nice. And smart, and pretty… and lesbian."

Fleur laughed. "That does help, doesn't it?"

Gabrielle giggled. "Yeah."

"Her parents don't seem to know."

"No… she says she doesn't want to tell them yet."

"She'll have to eventually."

"She knows that. But she doesn't feel ready yet. And could you please not mention it to them? Or anyone else?"

Fleur sighed. "Alright. But you know, it isn't fair for you to have to keep your relationship a secret from everyone."

"I don't mind. And it's her choice – when to tell people."

"I don't think her parents will react that badly."

"Neither do I. Neither does she, really. But you never know, and even if they're positively ecstatic about it – which I doubt – it's still hard."

Fleur set down the brush and began braiding Gabrielle's hair. "So, how do you like England?"

Gabrielle smiled. "It's okay. France is better, of course, but it's nice. I can't wait for Ginny to see France, though. She'll love it."

Fleur laughed. "Of course she will." She finished braiding Gabrielle's hair and got up. "Good-night, Gabby."

"Good-night." Fleur gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and left.

A few moments later, Ginny came in wearing her bathrobe. Her hair was still damp from her shower and she smelled like shampoo.

"What did your sister want?"

"To talk. About you." Gabrielle paused, looking at Ginny. "She said she won't tell anyone about us."

Ginny smiled. "Do you know how lucky you are to have a sister?" she asked as she changed into her nightgown. "All I have is six brothers."

"Six?" Gabrielle blinked in confusion. "I only count five. Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron. That's five, unless the English numbering system works radically differently from the French one."

Ginny found her comb, sat down next to Gabrielle, and set about untangling her hair. "There's another one – Percy. But he sort of sided against us when Harry said You-Know-Who was back and the Ministry said he wasn't. And we sort of haven't really talked to him since."

"Oh."

"But I still don't have a sister. I mean, I love my brothers – I really do. But I can't, you know, talk to them. Like I could talk to a sister. The only other girl in the family is Mum and she's usually pretty busy."

"My parents are always busy."

"But you have a sister."

Gabrielle shrugged. "Yeah, and she's annoying as hell, most of the time. She's always so perfect. Perfect grades, perfect skin, perfect everything. It's annoying."

Ginny raised an eyebrow. "And you don't have perfect skin?"

Gabrielle made a face. "I think she inherited more veela blood than I did."

"I think you inherited just plenty," Ginny informed her, bringing her hand up to Gabrielle's cheek and softly kissing her lips.

Gabrielle grinned. "I'm glad someone thinks so. You know, Hermione's going to be in here any minute now."

"I don't think I really care." Gabrielle raised her eyebrows at that. "I mean, she already knows I'm lesbian. What does it matter if she knows about us?"

"You might want to tell her, though. I mean, I know she's okay with you being lesbian, but she might react badly to seeing us together."

Ginny sighed. "I don't see why. I mean, I don't have fits or anything when I see straight couples together. And they don't seem particularly interested in what I think of their relationship." But she got up anyway, climbing into bed and quickly falling asleep.

A/N: Wow... I think I'm almost done with this fic... well, sort of. It might take me a while to wrap things up, but I'm definately getting there. :D
Gamesprite Badger: Thanks... I'm glad you like the characters. Anasazi: Don't worry, Hermione will make up with Ginny eventaully... probably in the next few chapters... Silver-nex, Orange and Kashiaga: Thanks.