"'ermione."

Fleur looked down at the quietly sleeping girl in her arms, having just woken up herself seconds before. From the light she saw streaming into the kitchen, she realized that they had collapsed for the better part of a day and a night. But she didn't see that as a bad thing. It was surely the most Hermione had slept in weeks, if not months.

"Wake up, i ma cherie /i ."

Hermione woke up with a scream of pain, and Fleur's knee-jerk reaction almost knocked the girl to the floor. The teenager was scratching her face with rough nails, but Fleur grabbed her wrists and pulled down. Hermione eyes opened dangerously wide, her breath ragged.

"Fleur…oh…gods…I thought you…Bellatrix…"

"Shh, 'ermione. It's alright."

She slowly relaxed her grip on Hermione's wrists, and was relieved when the younger witch kissed her on the cheek. Fleur did not protest when Hermione's mouth met with hers after a brief moment of thought, quite content as the tension she had feared would crop up the… 'morning after', to use the common phrase, was practically non-existent.

A few moments and several searing kisses later, Hermione pulled away from a smiling Fleur to say, "I hate to stop," she blushed a little, "really, but I am beyond starving."

"When was ze last time you ate?"

"To be honest?"

"I would 'ope so."

"I…don't really remember."

Fleur made a flustered sound and stood up in a graceful motion, her fingers linked with the other woman's.

"You 'ave to stay 'ealthy. Go sit down in ze kitchen and I will make you some breakfast."

When the younger witch opened her mouth to protest, Fleur shook her head to quiet her.

"Be our relationship one of lovers or friends, I will not let you forget your 'ealth. Please let me do this for you, 'ermione."

She looked more embarrassed than annoyed at Fleur's words, and mumbled a response amounting to 'alright' and 'you don't have to'. Lovers? Hermione had never thought of it that way. They had kissed and…she felt it become rather hard to swallow when she thought of Fleur's mouth against her scars. That good feelings could come out of such a debilitating incident made Hermione let a tiny spark of hope float up into her chest.

She followed Fleur and sat down; checking out of paranoia to make sure the chair was actually upright. The Frenchwoman hummed a tune Hermione didn't recognize and turned to ask, "What would you like?"

"Eggs and toast, if it's not too much trouble."

Fleur nodded and made several gestures with her wand, plates promptly appearing on the table with silverware and a patterned cup filled almost to the brim with coffee. A small silver creamer and shaker full of sugar joined them a few seconds later. Hermione tipped in some sugar and enough cream to turn the coffee a warm caramel color, taking a sip a moment later and sighing in pleasure at the taste.

"You make great coffee, Fleur."

She smiled at Hermione and conjured a cup for herself before sitting at the table. Fleur used a fork to shift eggs and pieces of slightly burnt toast onto two different plates, making a face when she saw the dark edges of the bread.

"Damn, I can never get zat spell right."

"It's perfect. Don't worry."

Hermione cut into the white of her egg with the side of her fork and muttered a curse when she punctured the yolk. She spooned the gooey remains of her egg onto a piece of toast and took a bite, suddenly realized how starving she was. Fleur raised an eyebrow as Hermione wolfed down the rest in a matter of minutes.

She looked up from her plate, feeling completely mortified when she saw that Fleur had only taken a couple bites of her breakfast.

"Sorry. I guess it's been a while since I've had a proper meal."

"It's alright, 'ermione. Do you want more?"

"Yes, please."

Fleur pointed her wand at Hermione's plate and calmly said the incantation. Two more eggs, both sunny side up, and a small stack of slightly burnt toast appeared, and they shared a smile.

"Thank you," Hermione said a moment later, "I don't think I've had someone make me breakfast in years."

"I don't think anyone 'as let me make them breakfast in years. My mother would never let me, and at school, ze elves cooked everything."

Hermione remembered S.P.E.W. and the small crusade that followed and felt a pang of sadness because she hadn't seen Hogwarts since the beginning of the war. She must have been staring off into space, because she jumped a little when Fleur touched her hand.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, just thinking. I haven't seen Hogwarts in such a long time, and I live on the edge of the village next to it."

"If you don't mind, perhaps we could go into 'ogsmeade today and look at ze Christmas decorations. Afterwards we could go up to ze castle."

"Christmas?" Hermione's eyes were wide.

"It's on Sunday. You didn't know?"

She shook her head, bewildered. "I haven't been keeping track of the months. And," Hermione reached out to stroke Fleur's cheek, "No, I wouldn't mind going into the village with you. Ginny can burn in hell for all I care."

"Zat is what I like to 'ear."

A knock at the door startled both of them and Hermione stood up to answer it. She looked through the peephole and smiled a little before opening the door. Remus and Tonks stepped inside, covered in snowflakes. Tonks almost knocked Hermione to the floor with her hug, apologies for not visiting her sooner coming a mile a minute.

"I think you're choking her, darling." Remus said with a little grin, though it changed to a look of surprise when he saw Fleur.

"So this is what Ginny was jumping up and down about."

Hermione frowned. "What did she say?"

Tonks made a face. "She sent owls to everyone she's known since birth screaming some nasty rubbish about you and Fleur. I don't know, Remus, does Hermione look like she's been dancing with the devil?"

Fleur made a noise of amusement and Hermione muttered, "Merlin, what did we do to her?"

"Apparently she has some prejudices about those who prefer their own gender to the opposite."

"You two don't care?"

"Of course not!" Tonks said, "Remus and I thought she was lying about seeing you and Fleur, but whether or not it's true, we still care for you. Nothing would change that."

"You suffered more than most in the war, Hermione. I think people have forgotten that."

That was the second time in two days she had heard that and it was a little disorienting. Hermione motioned for Remus and Tonks to sit down, pulling out her wand to Summon two more chairs. She went back to her seat and took a long sup of her coffee.

"Any particular reason you showed up out of nowhere besides Ginny's letter?"

"Well, Harry sent us a note a couple days ago and asked us to try and get you out of the house. We wanted to invite you over tomorrow night, to eat and maybe decorate the tree Remus got last night. Fleur can come if you'd like."

Fleur spoke up at that moment, looking slightly amused.

"I assume Miss Weasley will not be there."

"She…" Remus started, "Politely declined when we told her you might be joining us. But Harry said he would try and sneak away. He really misses Hermione."

The teenager nodded and took another drink off her coffee before asking, "How's Professor McGonagall? Last time I heard anything, she was still in St. Mungo's."

"Minerva's recovered very well, although she does reach for her walking stick more often than she used to. When Hogwarts re-opens next year, she will be the Headmistress. She also invited me to be her deputy."

"That's great, Remus." Hermione smiled.

There was an uncomfortable pause before Tonks said, "You don't have to wear that hood around us, Hermione. Scars don't make you a horrible person."

"I'd hope not," Remus murmured, hand subconsciously going to the ones on his face.

The silence that followed was halted when Fleur and Tonks gave each other slightly panicked looks. They were quite aware that the conversation was really not going the intended way, and Fleur ended the awkward moment by suggesting, "'ermione, perhaps you and Remus should go for a walk to catch up on old times. I don't want our presence," she gestured to Tonks vaguely, "To interrupt your reminiscing."

Hermione gave her a very odd look but shrugged and said, "Well, how about it, Remus?"

He smiled and nodded, apparently wanting to end the tension in the room as much as Fleur and Tonks. Remus waited for her to stand, and started talking about the empty posts they had at Hogwarts as they walked out the door, seemingly grabbing the first thought that came to mind and transforming it into conversation.

Once the door was shut, Tonks sat down at the table and put her face in her hands, looking up at Fleur a moment later. She massaged the bridge of her nose to stave off a looming headache before muttering, "Damn, I can't keep up anymore."

"What do you mean by zat?"

"They're very similar, don't you think? Logical, the majority of the brain cells between their friends, and treated like scum because of something they had control over."

"Yes. Perhaps they would have even been lovers in another universe, but that does not explain your previous comment."

Tonks flushed a little bit.

"I just meant that sometimes I feel like I can't talk to Remus about certain things, because of his," she struggled for a word, "condition. I'm not sure how long you've been around Hermione, but from the owl Remus received from Viktor Krum detailing her status, I'm pretty sure there has probably been some yelling and general rage when it comes to what happened."

"Viktor was visiting her?"

The pink-haired woman nodded, responding with, "He loves her, he really does. But when he tried to take care of her, she eventually couldn't deal with it. I think she's tired of being treated like a charity case by her friends and like a plague by those with less of a pleasant opinion."

"Would you get tired of zat as well?"

"Yeah, I would. But I just want her to come out of her den, rather than hiding under a rock near Hogsmeade and ignoring all but a handful of people."

"As do I. But I also believe she needs some time to adjust to the fact that someone she loathed for three years of her life in 'ead over 'eels in love with 'er."

"That would certainly take more than a minute."

Fleur laughed softly. "Yes, but I have 'ope that she'll come to terms with it."

"I know you were there…well, at least near her when she was scarred."

"We shared a cold prison cell while ze ones we loved died and went down one false path after another."

Tonks winced at the cool tone of Fleur's words, not having meant to offend her.

"I just…what I was trying to say, is that you saw her change. Is there any chance of getting the old Hermione back?"

"To be 'onest?"

"Yeah."

"I don't want ze old 'ermione back. I fell in love with 'er as she changed and 'owever painful, what happened those nights when she was tortured is now a part of 'er, and I would not take away the pieces of someone I loved for my own convenience."

Tonks was very quiet when Fleur finished, and spent the next few moments staring at the floor, embarrassed at what she had said in front of the French witch. She guessed she was just as clumsy with words as she was with furniture. Damn it all to hell.

"Merlin, I don't even know how to say what I want to say."

"Zat is often the case in circumstances like this."

"But not for you. You knew what was coming."

"When I told her zat I loved 'er, I truly 'ad no idea what was going to 'appen. But when she didn't slap me and run away, the rest just fell into place. I knew zat what had happened during ze war would certainly come into play if we 'ad a relationship, either as friends or lovers."

"If you don't mind me asking, which is it?"

Fleur had a peculiar smile when she said, "We've kissed."

"It's more than that."

"Quite. But it's up to 'ermione how she wishes to shape our relationship, if she wants one at all."

"You want to be with her."

"Of course. I love 'er dearly, but zat does not mean she feels the same way, or even wants me to be in 'er house."

"I thought the French were all about passion and obsessive love."

"Ah, i oui /i ," Fleur smiled, "But we also know zat is important to be patient with ze one you adore, for risk of losing them forever. More than one maiden 'as waited for 'er 'usband to return for years on end without losing faith in their love. I will always be there for 'ermione, if she needs me. If she does not, I will not toss away my love out of frustration or a foolish passion."

"You're wise as hell for your age, Fleur."

"I believe you are not zat much older than me."

"Maybe not, but I'm grasping for straws on how to show the man I love that I love him, while you seem to have a plan and the keys for the heart of the one you love."

"I 'ave no key. It would be suicide for 'ermione to just open up at my words. I would be Pandora with 'er little box, and suffer for it. She just needs someone to tell 'er everything will be alright, even if she doesn't believe it, and someone to 'old 'er leash when all zat anger inside her boils up. She just needs a person in her life that cares enough to take," she paused thinking of the English words, "collateral damage whenever she has to break down and build 'erself up again."

"You've thought about this a long time, haven't you?"

"I had all the time in the world when I waited for her to return from the dungeons every night in that cell."

Tonks sighed, looking guilty. "I can't imagine the hell you and her went through."

"Ze hell was watching 'er come back every night with something else missing."

The sound of the door opening made both women jump and they turned around to see Hermione and Remus both covered in snow. Under her hood, the Gryffindor girl was smiling, and Fleur felt a surge of joy. Remus looked a little disoriented, and Hermione laughed when he mumbled, "Snowball fight."

Tonks burst out laughing and stood up to kiss the man she loved, and Fleur was shocked to see that Hermione had actually done something not out of surprise or rage, but out of spontaneous happiness. She stood up and Hermione walked across the room to step into her arms where they kissed gently.

"I thought you were going on a walk."

"We were, but then I had a flashback to all the fun everyone had when it was Christmas at Hogwarts. There's nothing like the expression of someone who's just been interrupted with a snowball."

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"It's because of you."

"Really now?" Fleur beamed.

"Well, at least that's what I think."

"Zat is good to know."

They looked at Tonks locked into a tight embrace with Remus and Hermione said, "We'd love to come to dinner tomorrow. But if you two don't mind, I think I'd like to spend the rest of today with Fleur."

Remus had a knowing smile on his face. "Of course, Hermione. We'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, you two." Tonks looked at Fleur for a moment, who seemed bewildered with delight at this new part of Hermione.

" i Aurevoir /i ."

Remus and Tonks walked outside, their departure signaled by joint popping sounds.

Fleur kissed Hermione softly, and when no protest met her lips, they forgot all about the open front door, losing themselves in each other in quiet abandon. The winter would not be so cold, not today.