Author's POV

"Fleur, I made something for you. I hope you like it." Hermione said as her nervousness take her confidence.

Hermione took out a gift from her bag and gave it to Fleur. She had brought the French girl to the Room of Requirement and bribed Winky the house-elf to prepare and delivered food for them. Now they had done eating and were currently sitting on the sofa in front of the warm fireplace.

"Hermione…" Fleur's voice was soft as she did not expect to receive any gift. "You don't have to—" Hermione stop her from saying anything.

"Please, Fleur. Accept it as a token of apology from me, for running away the other day. I'm really sorry for suddenly leaving you without explaining anything, and I hope you can forgive me." Hermione looked so guilty that Fleur was unable to deny he anything even if she asked for the world.

"Alright, I will accept it and forgive you but only if you explain to me why did you apologize for the kiss. Why did you look so painful, so heartbroken?" Fleur accepted the gift but put it aside for the time being. She then held Hermione's hand and looked deep into her watery eyes.

"Hermione, I really, really like you and I like being close to you. I wish we could get even closer; however, I can't help but feeling like there's still a wall between us. I want to be here for you, Hermione if you will have me." Fleur said and smile at her.

Hermione took in the sincerity in Fleur's voice and her eyes turned downcast as she contemplated opening up more than she already had with the French girl. "Throughout my life, there is one thing that I fear the most. I would say it's the biggest fear have in life, and that is the fear of rejection, of not being accepted." Hermione said and look up.

Hermione let go Fleur's hand and turned towards the fireplace. "In my entire life, I've tried to fit in with the society but had always become an outcast. When I was in primary school, the kids in my school made fun of me and bullied me because they can't accept that reading is my passion, and I lack social skills. When I accidentally unleashed my magic, the people surrounding me can't accept that a witch was living in their community. The bullying got worse, people looked at me like I'm a contagious disease, and my adopted parents, who were the only people I loved wholeheartedly also rejected me.

My mother rejected me in the way that she thought she wasn't strong enough to be able to stand by me and supported me — which she didn't even try to — thus she chose to die and left me to fend for myself. My father was outright saying that he could not and would not accept a witch to be called his daughter, hence he abused and even raped me." She paused and took a deep breath; Fleur gasped at her side.

"When I was accepted into Hogwarts, I thought that I finally have a place where I truly belong, but I thought wrong. Here, I was also bullied and being made fun of because they rejected my blood status, my background profile and my intelligence. Th reason why my boggart is of Professor McGonagall telling me that I fail all my exams is not only because I am afraid of literally failing the exams, but also because of this fear of rejection that I have.

You see, I have nothing more valuable to offer than my knowledge, so if I were to fail and be expelled, I will have nowhere else to go. Neither the wizarding world nor the Muggles world would accept me in their societies. Several times I tried to kill myself and asked for death, but even Death rejected me and still kept me alive until now.

When I fell in love with a woman, I had hoped that she would return my feelings. However, it turned out that I had crossed the line when I kissed her because she immediately rejected me, by saying that I was still a child and wouldn't know what I was feeling, and also that we had a too wide age gap. That's why I panicked after we kissed the other day — I was terrified that you would be rejecting me too."

Fleur finally understood everything and her heart sore as she felt Hermione's pain. She moved to sit closer to the girl until the sides were aligned and touched against each other. She had a strong desire to look into the honest brown eyes again so she grabbed Hermione's chin and gently pulled it towards her face. Her fingers reached out to caress Hermione's cheek softly before she slowly closed their distance.

The kiss was languid and with very gentle movements as Fleur conveyed her feelings into it. It was all lips and no tongue involved, but it still managed to speed up both the girls' heartbeats.

"I won't reject you, Hermione, and I'm not going to leave you either. You have my words," Fleur said after they had pulled away, but her thumb kept caressing the smooth cheek and Hermione leaned into the touch with her eyes fluttered closed. A single tear rolled down her cheek and Fleur wiped it away.

Hermione opened her eyes and said, "thank you, Fleur. I don't know what will happen if you reject me because I really, really like you. Fleur Delacour, will you be my girlfriend?" She bit her lips nervously.

Fleur closed their distance again and their noses touched as she replied, "of course, Hermione." She smiled briefly before going in for another kiss. Her hands went behind Hermione's neck and she could feel Hermione's hands on her waist. Her head tilted to one side and she deepened the kiss, delighted in the moan coming from the brunette. Her tongue tentatively poked out and licked Hermione's lower lip, feeling the shudder that went through the girl's body.

Hermione opened her mouth and allowed Fleur's tongue to meet hers. She felt euphoric, and moans were heard but she did not know from whom. Her mind was spinning and her body felt goosebumps from Fleur's touches. She wanted to feel more of the French girl, wanted to hear more of her moans, so she pulled Fleur into her lap, subsequently inching Fleur's dress higher up her thighs.

Fleur moaned again as she felt the change in position. When she felt soft touches on her exposed thighs, she gasped aloud an incidentally pressed herself closer to Hermione. "Merde!"

Hermione smiled inwardly and praised herself for her achievement to make Fleur cursed. She kissed along Fleur's jaw towards her ear, licking and biting the shell; Fleur's hand clutched her head harder. Her hands moved to Fleur's bottoms and lifted her up in the air as she stood and walked towards the bed.

Fleur gasped in surprise and clung her body tightly against the surprisingly strong girl. Hermione kissed down her neck while she maneuvered around the room until she was put down gently onto the spacious bed.

"Hermione…" She purred, her heart was beating wildly, and her body throbbed with the thought of what was going to happen.

"Fleur, tell me to stop if you don't want this as much as I do," Hermione said as she pulled back slightly from Fleur. She looked into the dark blue eyes and watched as they darkened with love and lust, and she knew her own eyes projected the same feelings.

"Don't stop, please. I want you so much, Hermione. Make love to me," Fleur pleaded and felt vulnerable as she was at Hermione's mercy.

Hermione's heart skipped a beat and her eyes darkened even more. "My pleasure," she said.

She went in for a deep kiss and thrust her tongue inside Fleur's mouth. They kissed passionately while Fleur hastily unbuttoned Hermione's vest and her button-up shirt. Hermione kissed down Fleur's jaw and neck while her hands pushed up the hem of Fleur's dress. Fleur helped Hermione in lifting her body so she could take the dress off.

Hermione was lovestruck as she watched the almost naked body of Fleur and could not help but fell in love with all the perfections and flaws that Fleur had. She ignored her own state of topless — saved for the bra — as Fleur had managed to take off her vest and shirt, but she knew she was unmatched against Fleur's beauty.

"You're so beautiful, Fleur." Hermione praised as she stored the image of Fleur in her cream coloured lacy bra and a matching knicker.

Fleur could feel warmth seeped through her body as she felt embarrassed at being stared. Her hands went to covered her private parts and her head turned to the side, she closed her eyes and bit her lip shyly.

Hermione noticed the embarrassed look and decided to show to Fleur how much she meant what she said. She reached for Fleur's hands and moved them away as she kissed on her feet, calves, thighs, navel and upwards to her cleavage, her chest, then she paused on her neck while kissing and nipping on the pulse point softly, delighted in the moans that came from the girl underneath her.

Fleur grabbed Hermione's neck and pulled her in for more kisses, their tongues clashes and teeth were biting lips until they pulled away for air. Both girls were panting heavily and felt heady from all the kisses.

"Do you want me to stop? There's no going back, Fleur." Hermione said in between catching her breaths.

"Shut up and make love to me already, Hermione. Unless you don't really want me—"

Hermione cut off Fleur's words with another kiss and her hand went behind Fleur's back to unhook her bra and later took it off She then took off her own bra too so as to not let Fleur feel more embarrassed. Their bodies tangled and they moaned as skin met with skin, feeling the warmth seeping through them.

Hermione kissed down Fleur's chest and reached the valleys, her hands then squeezed both breasts and she watched mesmerized as the tips peaked from her ministrations. She slowly licked one of the nipples while fondled the other and shivered as she heard a loud gasp.

"Oh, merde! Don't stop!"

Hermione did not want to stop but increased the speed and pressure instead. She kept switching between the two breasts and groaned as Fleur was pulling her hair and her body arched and met her hip.

"Oh, Hermione, it feels so good. Ah, fuck!"

Fleur felt a soft sting as Hermione bit her nipple and her body arched higher. A cool wind blew onto her exposed nipples as Hermione let go and went to kiss downwards her body. She propped herself up and watched as Hermione peppered soft kisses on her stomach and her heart beat impossibly faster as Hermione almost reached the line of her knicker.

Hermione hooked her fingers on the hem of Fleur's knicker and she cast her eyes upwards to look at Fleur. She could feel the warmth and smelt the wetness coming from in between Fleur's legs and was eager to taste and feel more of Fleur. Her heart leapt in joy and she beamed when Fleur nodded her head and lifted her hip to allow Hermione to pull off the last barrier.

She knew Fleur was wet as she had seen from the darkened patch on her knicker, but she could not believe her eyes as she took in the sight before her eyes. Fleur was truly drenched and Hermione's heart swelled in pride as she realized that it was a because of her. She took a deep breath and smiled at the smell.

"Oh, fuck!"

Fleur voice raised when Hermione kissed and licked her sex. It was a sensation she had never felt before but everything Hermione did felt so good.

"Oh, yes! Ah! Oh, Hermione, don't stop!"

Truthfully, Hermione had never done this before. She only did whatever she had read in plenty of books, and she had never thought that eating a person out would feel and taste so good. Maybe because it was Fleur, she did not know, but what she knew was that she never wanted to stop. Fleur's taste had become her new favourite thing in the world, and she wanted to have more of it, so she went to get more from its source.

"Oh, fuck! Ah! Merde! Hermione! Ah!" Fleur had her body arched high up and she could feel the liquid flowing out of her as Hermione licked at the entrance.

Hermione's hands went to pin Fleur down on the bed and she moaned at the delicious taste. She licked all over the sex and learned what made Fleur ticked, what made Fleur arched her back, what made her moaned the loudest. She then focused on licking the cute knob at the top which she had learned it was called 'the clit'.

"Oh oh oh Hermione, yes, yes, don't, ah! Stop! Don't, stop! Please! Oh, fuck! Something's coming!"

Knowing that Fleur was nearing the edge, Hermione licked and sucked harder and faster as she felt the clit hardened. She tried to maneuver around and her finger accidentally touched the entrance. Suddenly Fleur was screaming her name out loud and her body vibrated and arched so high that she looked like she was flying in the air, luckily her hands that were clutching the sheets made her remained grounded to the world. Hermione groaned and kept on licking all the newfound wetness and brought Fleur down from the high until she laid flat on the bed again.

Fleur had her arm covered her eyes as she panted heavily. She felt sweat covered her skin as Hermione peppered her body with kisses until the girl propped herself above her.

"Fleur, are you alright?" Hermione ask her.

Fleur was not able to suppress her giggles at the question. Her giggles turned to laughter as she looked at Hermione's confused look.

"Hermione, my love, I am more than alright. That was… amazing!" Fleur pulled the girl in for a kiss but stopped abruptly and asked, "is that how I tasted like?" She timidly licked Hermione's lips to get another taste of herself.

Hermione chuckled at the French girl's curiosity and laid herself down beside her. Her fingers wiped the wetness around her mouth and she licked it again, 'I could never get tired from this,' she mused.

Fleur wanted to return the gesture but found herself yawning instead. She felt tired and her eyes were getting heavy. It did no help also when Hermione was stroking her hair and sometimes massaged her scalp. She felt serene and sleepy.

"Sleep, I'll wake you up when it's time to leave," Hermione's voice was like a lullaby and Fleur fell asleep instantly.

"Later that night, Hermione woke me up and we had a light dinner — courtesy to Winky again — before she sent me back to our carriage. I only remembered about the gift and Hermione gave it to me again when we arrived outside the carriage."

Fleur opened her eyes after she finished retelling the story of her Valentine's day with Hermione — saved for the private detail — and her hand moved towards her chest. Even though Bill did not have all the details about what Hermione and Fleur did, his face flushed red anyway at the idea of what they had done.

"What did Hermione give you?" He asked to distract himself from having impure images engraved in his mind.

Fleur took off the necklace she wore and showed it to the man. It was a thin necklace made from silver and had a pendant in the shape of a heart. In the middle of the heart, were two letters — 'FD' which was the abbreviation for Fleur Delacour.

"Wow, she made this herself?"

Bill could not hide his surprise at seeing the details of the necklace. It was made with such precision and he was sure that it could be sold for a high price. He passed it back to the witch who took it and clasped it around her neck again.

"Alright, I admit, Hermione is more than brilliant. Is there anything that she can't do?" They both chuckled at his remark. "I still don't get it. When did you both declare your love to each other if not during the Valentine's?"

Fleur smiled as her memory continued to play in her mind. "The night after the second task of the Triwizard Tournament. You see, we Champions were asked to retrieve what had been stolen from us from the merpeople in the Black Lake. I failed the task after I had been attacked by the grindylows, and was dreading about what will happen to my sister, who had been missing."

Hermione was anxiously waiting and watching from afar, silently praying and hoping that Fleur will be saved in the tournament She knew what the second task was about after she had accidentally overheard Harry talking about it a few days prior, and she noticed that Gabrielle was missing, so she put two and two together.

When Fleur had resurfaced, Hermione let out a long and deep breath in relief, but her relief was only for a short while as Gabrielle was still nowhere to be found. Realizing that everyone had been paying their attention towards the French girls, Hermione cast the Bubble-head charm on herself and jumped into the lake. She swam deep into the blackness and met her favourite friend, Squee, who was the Giant Squid.

She had become friends with Squee since her second year when she had started to hang out near the lake every time, she cried her sorrow away. Anyway, Squee had pointed out the direction towards the merpeople village where Gabrielle was being held and Hermione waved her hand in return as a gesture to thank him. She swam towards the direction and hid between the large algae when she saw Harry was already there, to save Ron.

Out of nowhere, Cedric arrived and released Cho while telling Harry that their time was almost up. Then a jaw came from somewhere behind her and made its way to release Ginny, and Hermione deduced it was actually Viktor. When Harry was left alone and released Ron, Hermione saw as he looked around and tried to save Gabrielle, but the merpeople were disturbing him.

Hermione quickly swam her way and used her wand to release Gabrielle, just like how Cedric had done earlier. As she tried to grab the little girl, the merpeople swam around her and said, "only the contestants shall pass!"

Hermione pushed Gabrielle towards Harry and made hand gestures to him, asking him to leave immediately and she will deal with the merpeople. Harry nodded and quickly grabbed both Ron and Gabrielle and swam upwards.

Meanwhile, Hermione grabbed all the merpeople attention and fought them wandlessly, until suddenly one of them hissed, "the Queen! She's the Queen, quickly, let her go!"

All of the merpeople stopped and looked at her attentively before they bowed slightly. "Your Majesty!" They cheered and Hermione was thoroughly surprised. However, she felt her charm was almost dissipated and she was losing breath, so she quickly swam her way up. She did not miss as the merpeople chanted, "we look forward to meeting you again, Your Majesty!"

Hermione did not resurface on the platforms where everyone was. Instead, with another help from Squee, she was brought towards the edge of the lake where her usual hanging port was. She laid on the ground and tried to catch her breath before she cast the drying and warming spells on herself.

Later that day, she covertly Obliviate Harry's memory so he would forget about seeing her in the lake, and modified his memory so that he thought he was the one who saved both Ron and Gabrielle instead. It was not far from the truth that everyone believed anyway. At night, Hermione went to her usual spot near the lake and thought about her meeting with the merpeople.

'What did they mean by 'Your Majesty'? The Sorting Hat also called me that before.'

She was thinking very deeply that she did not realize both Fleur and Gabrielle were walking towards her until both the French girls shouted her name and broke her out of her trance. Hermione stood up and smiled at them before she pulled Gabrielle in for a tight hug.

"Are you alright, Gabrielle? Are you hurt anywhere? The merpeople didn't do any harm to you, did they?" She let the little girl go and moved to inspect her everywhere.

Gabrielle only giggled at Hermione's antics and replied, "I'm alright, Hermione, no need to worry. Geez, you're just like my sister!" They all chuckled at her retort.

"I was really worried when I saw you being tied up and hanged. You weren't breathing either, so excuse me for feeling worried," Hermione pouted and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Tied up? Hanged? Hermione, how did you know what happened to Gabrielle?" Fleur had a puzzled look on her face and Hermione realized her mistake.

"Err... It was just a slip of the tongue." She said sheepishly but Fleur did not buy her excuse.

"Hermione, the only persons who know what happened to the people that had been stolen by the merpeople, are the Champions who rescued them. Even I didn't know what happened to my sister. Are you trying to imply that you were the one who rescued her?" Fleur looked at Hermione threateningly as she patiently waited for the answers.

"What do you mean, sis? I thought Harry was the one who rescued me?" Gabrielle was perplexed as she looked between her sister and the nervous looking Hermione.

"No, no. I… Err… Oh, I heard it from Harry! Yes, yes, I heard from Harry just now." Hermione said apprehensively and her eye were looking everywhere except Fleur.

"Non, non, I don't believe it. Tell me the truth, Hermione." Fleur had a stern look on her face and she stepped closer towards Hermione. Gabrielle also did the same as she stood next to her sister.

Although Hermione found Fleur to be so hot and adorable and she very much wanted to kiss her girlfriend, now was not the time. She sighed and raised her hands in defeat.

"Fine, I lost, there's no way I can win against two attractive French girls. I admit I was the one who rescued Gabrielle from the merpeople when I saw you returned alone, although I encountered some difficulties with them afterwards. I handed her to Harry so he can bring her to safety while I tried to distract them from him. There, I told you the truth." Her shoulders slumped and she looked downwards to the ground.

"Oh, Hermione!" Fleur literally jumped into Hermione's arms and she made a small 'oomph' sound as she tried to catch Fleur and stabilized both of them. "Thank you, thank you, Hermione! Oh, my saviour, my knight in shining armor!" Fleur was weeping and Hermione could feel the tears falling down onto her shoulder.

Hermione rubbed the girl's back and she looked at Gabrielle who had tears in her own eyes. She reached for the little girl's arm and pulled her in for a hug too. Hermione stood silently as both the French girls wept on her shoulders until they calmed down and slowly pulled away from her.

"Thank you, Hermione, for saving my life." Gabrielle kissed on Hermione's cheek and Hermione returned the gesture by kissing the top of her head.

"Anytime, my dear. You are a very important person to my girlfriend, and I would hate to see you get hurt." She winked at Gabrielle, who giggled before she walked away towards their carriage, and left the couple alone in the silent of the night.

Fleur was still standing close to Hermione and had her arms around the brunette's neck, while Hermione's arms were holding her waist. She tucked some strands of brown hair behind Hermione's ear. "I love you, Hermione."

Hermione froze upon hearing the L word and thought that she had heard it wrong. "I beg your pardon?" She heard herself asking and her eyes widened when Fleur repeated the sentence.

"I love you, Hermione. I have been for a while."

Fleur smiled sweetly and watched the change of emotions in Hermione's eyes. She knew Hermione felt the same as she had seen many times of how Hermione looked at her, there was always the love visible in the honest brown eyes.

Slowly, Hermione's mouth morphed into the widest smile ever. She beamed happily and went in for a kiss. She pulled Fleur's body closer and deepened the kiss until they broke apart for air.

"I love you too, Fleur. I love you so much! I've never felt this happy; I don't know what to do."

Hermione's smile was contagious and Fleur noticed she was beaming with happiness too. Her smile then turned to smirk as she leant in and in the sultriest voice, she whispered in Hermione's ear, "I have some ideas of what you could do to me, Her-mi-o-ne." She licked the shell and felt the hands on her waist were clutching harder.

When Fleur pulled away, she was delighted at seeing Hermione's face had turned as red as a tomato and steams were coming out from her ears like a choo-choo train. She grabbed Hermione's hand and started walking towards the carriage, and into her private chamber.

"Seriously, I couldn't believe that Hermione was put into a Slytherin instead of Gryffindor. That was a pure Gryffindor's courage, right there."

Bill squealed excitedly as he was truly amazed at Hermione. Not only did the girl showed her love for Fleur, but also risked her life in order to save Gabrielle because the little girl was someone important to Fleur. 'I really lose to her in everything.' He sighed inwardly.

"By the way, why did you leave someone as awesome as Hermione, for someone like me? I mean, I'm honoured, but I really am nothing compared to her." Bill said dejectedly and smiled weakly when he felt Fleur squeezed his hand.

"Don't say that, Bill. You're the kindest and most compassionate man I have ever met, and you have always been patient with me. Hermione is just, different and special, I guess. Anyway, before Hermione and I reluctantly parted our ways because I had to go back to France, we promised to keep in touch with each other. The first thing I did when I arrived home was writing a letter to her, informing of my arrival and telling her how much I've missed her already.

We kept exchanging letters for a couple of weeks and I became more determined to come to England after I graduated. Other than wanting to improve my English, I wanted to be closer to Hermione. Grand-Maman realized how I have changed in the sense that I became happier and was always smiling, due to the fact that my mind was constantly filled with the thoughts of Hermione. I told her that I have found someone special and I have never felt so happy in my life, maybe Hermione was really the soulmate I have been looking for to fill the emptiness in my heart. Grand-Maman asked me whether I had already consummated with Hermione, and it was the weirdest and most embarrassing question ever, but I didn't answer her.

Then Grand-Maman suddenly told me this, "a soulmate is a rarest and the most powerful bond ever imagined, its connection even surpasses those of mate, blood bond, and true love. It is so powerful that when officially connected, a soulmate pair will share everything with each other — their feelings, their thoughts, their secrets, everything. If they were then disconnected or be in a great distance, they will become dispirited from the longing and missing and can eventually fall sick, and possibly lead to death. That's how powerful (and dangerous) a soulmate connection is."

Imagine how surprised I was at hearing the explanation. I don't know what does 'officially connected' mean. I mean, if it refers to both of us making love with each other, we certainly had done that. I was also afraid of the repercussions of having a bond that strong. I became uncertain whether Hermione is really my soulmate or not, and since I was living very far from her, I was scared if any of us will get hurt, or eventually died because of the distance. I promised myself to find the answers to those questions and be clearer about the soulmate thing, so I came here and stopped all the connections with Hermione. I didn't inform her of my arrival and ignored all of her mailings. That's when I found you, the only man who had never shown the desire to take advantage of me or being attracted to me because of my Veela charm."

Fleur stood up from her seat and clutched herself as she stared at the distance. She took a deep breath but her body trembled as she felt tears pooled into her eyes. She turned around and regarded the sullen look on Bill's face.

"I'm sorry, Bill if you think that I toyed with your heart. I know what I did was selfish, but I did not lie when I said that I like you and the times we had together were joyful for me. It's just that, I couldn't love you as much as I love Hermione. Please forgive me." Fleur sobbed and hid her face in her hand.

Bill had one hand inside his pocket and squeezed the small velvet box that was there. He had initially intended to propose to Fleur at the diner, but he was glad that the cats got out of the bag before things became even more complicated than they already were. He slowly rose from his seat and pulled the trembling witch into his arms.

'How can I be mad at her for having a feeling so pure and strong towards someone who really and truly loved and cared about her?'

"I forgive you, Fleur. It was my own fault too, for not realizing this sooner. I should have asked you about this from the moment I saw how you and Hermione interacted during last Christmas. Maybe things would have turned out differently. Nevertheless, you don't have to feel bad about it. Love comes and goes, a heartbreak or two won't kill me." He squeezed Fleur's shoulders.

"In fact, I'm fine, we're fine, and I'm glad that you found someone who you truly love and love you back just as much. Have you managed to find the answers you were looking for?"

Fleur shook her head. "Not yet, but I believe I will have them soon. I'm afraid because I don't know what to expect. You said earlier that Hermione has been missing and no one knows where she is. I'm scared to lose her again, Bill. Even if we got to meet each other again, I'm scared to know what Hermione will think of me now that I have broken her heart, and also the promises I made." Fleur cried as she felt her heart heavy with deep emotions — worry, guilt, regret.

"For now, let's just hope that wherever Hermione is, she's fine and safe. She has survived so many obstacles before, I'm positive that she's so strong to face anything by now. I promise to check with the Order and tell you if there's an update on the whereabouts."

Bill smiled warmly at Fleur and wiped her tears away. He loved Fleur and even though his love was not reciprocated, he vowed to protect Fleur for as long as he could.