Title: Outside your window 3?
Disclaimer: Yeah, same as before, characters belongs to J.K. Rowling
Refer to first chapter for everything else that's supposed to go here.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews, uhmmm, keep reviewing (I'm kinda of a bad writer, lol, but I'm trying), so yeah without further a due, here is the next chapter, most of it based on the movie instead of the book because I read the book a long time ago and don't remember all the tiny little details.
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"I won't be going alone because believe it or not someone's asked me!" Hermione says in an angry hushed whisper. Ron could be such a git sometimes that it wasn't even funny. She gets up with her notebook and storms away handing her notebook to Professor Snape and returning to her seat to gather her stuff. She really couldn't believe that there may have been a time where she actually really 'liked' Ron; it must have been temporary insanity. "And I said yes!" She says before storming away with her book bag, leaving both Ron and Harry taken aback.
A few classes later, Hermione had finally calmed down and dismissed Ron's earlier behaviour as just plain Ron. She was sitting down reading a book in the Gryffindor common room while Harry was sprawled out on a lounge chair mulling over the mystery of the golden egg and thinking about Cho who had rejected his offer to go to the ball because someone had already asked her. All of a sudden, Ron comes in looking positively shaken, he was being held up by Ginny and a bunch of other Gryffindor girls. If they let go, he would possibly tumble to the ground and hurl up in a ball, clutching his stomach while throwing up.
"It's okay Ron, it's alright, it doesn't matter" Ginny says, lightly patting her brother's shoulder.
"What happened to you?" Harry asks seeing Ron's dramatic entrance. The girls had put him down in a chair and it looked like he was shaking.
"He just asked Fleur Delacour out." Ginny says answering for her brother who almost seemed to be petrified.
"What!" Hermione says rushing over to Ron, thinking more about Fleur than Ron.
"What did she say?" Harry asks.
"No of course" Hermione answers a little too confidently which nobody really realized. Ron shakes his head and Hermione felt a sick feeling come about her but she tried to hold it in.
"She said yes?" Hermione asks, doubt flooding her voice, lucky again that the attention was so directed at Ron that nobody really noticed her quick mood changes. Ron continues shaking his head and Hermione breathes a sigh of relief but then why was Ron so shaken up, she didn't tell him that she was going with Hermione? Did she?
"Don't be silly" Ron says starting to tell his tale of horror "There she was walking by; you know how I like the way they walk, couldn't help it, it just slipped out"
"Actually, he sorta screamed at her, it was a bit frightening!" Ginny adds.
"What did you do then?" Harry asked, curiosity seeping through his voice.
"What else, I ran for it! I'm not cut out for this Harry; I don't know what got into me." Ron says obviously horrified.
Hermione was a little disgusted and a little envious at the fact that Ron had asked Fleur out, but Fleur was going with her, not Ron, not Harry, not any other person at Hogwarts but her!
'So, he doesn't know' Hermione thought going back to her book. "But they will all no soon enough" she mutters to herself, soon settling back into her book.
Butterflies filled her stomach, it was almost time, the ball was only hours away.
Soft jazz music filled the Hogwarts halls. Student from Beauxbatons, Durmstrang and of course Hogwarts packed the hall in the best dresses and dress robes they could find.
Harry stood next to Parvati who was wearing an elegant Indian style dress with her hair flowing freely instead of in its usually plait. Harry couldn't help but glare at Neville who was standing with Cho on his arm.
Cedric enters the hall with Padma on his arm, wearing almost identical thing to what her twin sister, Parvati was wearing.
'Where are Ron and Hermione?' Harry thought to himself almost anxious for some company although he was with his date. The last time, Harry spoke to Ron, he said he would still be coming to the ball with or without a date because that was the manly thing to do but maybe he had changed his mind, after all, his dress robes were giving him a hard time. But Hermione said she was definitely coming.
"Where's Hermione?" Ron asks, starling Harry a little.
"She's not here yet" he answers, examining Ron's attire which looked like it was almost choking him.
"Poor kid, I bet she's alone in her room crying her eyes out!" Ron says keeping his eyes locked on the door.
"What?" Harry asks.
"C'mon Harry, why'd you think she wouldn't tell us who she's coming with." Ron states more as a comment than a question.
"Because we'd take the mick out of her if she did!" Harry declares.
"Nobody asked her; I would've taken 'er myself if she wasn't so bloody proud" Ron says matter-of-factly.
"There's Ginny" Harry points out, avoiding the Hermione subject at hand.
Ginny enters the hall looking elegant and much older than her actual age, on the arm of no other that Viktor Krum.
"What's she doing with that pumpkin head!" Ron shouts out incredulously "He's 17, I'm gonna let mum hear about this I am!" He shouts out even louder than before.
"Ron, that's Viktor Krum, remember, 'one of the best seekers ever'" Harry says quoting Ron.
"That's before he decided to come to the ball with my sister, I'm gonna go talk to her about this!" He says moving away only to be dragged back by Harry.
"It's only one night, let her have a little fun" Harry defends Ginny, seeing the unmistakable expression of joy on her face. She was going to be the envy of all the other third years, and probably upper and under classmen as well.
"Alright, you're right, but I am still writing mum and dad about this as soon as we get back to the common room." Ron says still glaring at his sister with the much older quidditch player.
Ron goes into the ball room to see if there were any girls who he could accommodate and make it seem like he was actually with someone.
"Well, there you are Potter, are you and Ms. Patil ready?" Professor McGonagall asks.
"Ready Professor?" Harry asks, not knowing what the head of his house was talking about.
"To dance, it traditional that the three champions, well in this case four, are the first to dance, surely I told you that" Professor McGonagall says.
"No"
"Oh, well now you know!" She answers before walking away.
"Now, I need you all to line up in procession please." Professor McGonagall says to all of the other champions and their dates.
Fleur was standing in the corner, her dress a shade of light, earthy gold, complimenting her body in all the right places and drawing attention to her beautiful crystal blue eyes. It you weren't affected by the part-veela before, then there was no way you could resist her now. Her hair was tied back using white flowers, into a neat and elegant bun.
Hermione had not shown yet and she had promised to meet her five minutes ago. Whispers had surfaced around the other students, saying that Fleur was going to the ball alone because none of the Hogwart's boys were to her liking but it wasn't exactly false. It wasn't a Hogwart's boy who had captured her attention at all.
"I am not interezted, how many time zo I have to tell you, I am waiting for someone!" Fleur exclaimed to a fifth year, Hufflepuff boy who had asked her to be his date at least five times in the last two minutes.
Fleur had been nice to him the first three times he had asked but she was getting irritated and a little worried that Hermione was not there yet. She wouldn't have stood her up, would she? Fleur was just about to leave and go find her but turned around in time to see, entering the hall, wearing a beautiful, well-designed fuchsia pink dress, with her hair tied back, some resting on her shoulder, was Hermione.
Fleur smiled widely seeing Hermione enter the hall.
"She looks beautiful!" Parvati exclaimed, seeing the Gryffindor girl with her hair perfectly tamed, looking as feminine as ever. Harry couldn't help but smile seeing his best friend enter the hall looking so vibrant.
Hermione smiles spotting Fleur's enthusiastic expression in the corner. Fleur began walking over to her date, her dress gracefully flowing as she walked.
"You look abzolutley….. Stunning" Fleur breathes out, kissing Hermione on the cheek.
"You look…….." Hermione shakes her head trying to find a word that would justify Fleur's beauty. "amazing" she settled on looking deep into Fleur's eyes.
Hermione takes Fleur arm as they begin progressing down the rest of the stairs. Both of them, deep in though about how beautiful the other looked. They were snapped out of their daze by a flash of light shone directly in their faces. It was no other than Rita Skeeter of the Daily Prophet, with her enchanted 'quick quote quill' floating behind her.
"This is definitely front page news; Miss. Granger, third story this year, becoming quite the popular one aren't we?" Rita taunts, prompting her quill to begin writing. "Ms. Granger has successfully gone after another Tri-Wizard Tournament champion, no not Mr. Diggory but in fact Beauxbatons champion, Ms. Fleur Delacour. No word on how Mr. Potter is handling his girlfriend's promiscuous behaviour and her newly found lesbian affair. Any comments Ms. Granger? Ms. Delacour? No, okay" Rita mocks the two highly irritated girls but both of them knew better than to say anything because it would be twisted, flexed and bent until it meant something completely different in tomorrow's paper.
Harry was mulling over the situation in his head, now that he thought about it, it was kind of obvious. When Hermione had burst into the tent right before the first task, Fleur had wore an expression of jealousy, It all made sense now, she wasn't jealous of Hermione, she was jealous of Harry because Hermione had hugged him. And all the times in the library, they were together. And even earlier, when Ron had confessed to asking Fleur out, Hermione's voice was tainted with jealousy, shock, disgust and plain disbelief. It all made perfect sense now but how would Ron react when he found out.
"Ms. Granger, you can commence to the great hall" Professor McGonagall says, not noticing Hermione and Fleur's linked hands.
"She'z with me" Fleur says, making their linked hands seem more intimate than before by intertwining their fingers. Hermione smiles widely at this gesture. "She iz my date" Fleur specifies.
"Oh, very well then" Professor McGonagall says, clearly shocked at the revelation but she forces a smile before going back to last minuet preparations.
"Hi Harry" Hermione says acknowledging Harry's presence. "Pavarti" She nods at Harry's date.
"'Arry" Fleur nods at him acknowledging his presence in a not so nice way.
"Ok, in order now, Mr. Krum and Ms. Weasly first, Mr. Potter and Ms. Patil next, then Mr. Diggory and Ms. Patil and then Ms. Delacour and Ms. Granger." Professor McGonagall says getting them ready to enter the great hall. She knew that most of if not all of the students would be shocked at the couplings.
The first couple entered elating whispers from a lot of the students all surprised that Viktor Krum, the famous wizard quidditch player asked Ginny Weasly, the third year red-headed beauty to the dance, nevertheless the crowd was clapping as Viktor and Ginny took their place on the ballroom floor which was icy and white like much of the great hall. The ceiling gave of the effect like it was snowing and the windows were frosted.
"Is that Ginny Weasly with Viktor Krum!" Someone from the crowd of student's exclaims.
"No!" Ron scoffs. "She wouldn't come with such a git!" he says but is drowned out by the clapping of the crowd. Harry and Pavarti enter followed by Cedric and Padma and then Fleur and Hermione.
"Is that Hermione Granger with…with… Fleur Delacour?" Someone shouts, probably the same person who said the same about Viktor and Ginny.
The great hall goes silent, everybody moving forward trying to get a better look at the couple. Hermione had tensed up a little but. Fleur kissed Hermione's hand to reassure her that everything was going to be fine but this only shocked the crowd more.
"Well zat was not quite ze reaction I would have guezzed but…" Fleur trails off hearing a loud bang.
"Ron, are you okay?" Harry shouts running to his friend who had fallen to the floor, wearing an expression of complete distress, kind of like he did earlier when he had walked into the common room all shaken up. But he actually looked worse this time, his face was red, he was slightly shaking, like he had broken out into a cold sweat.
Madam Pomfrey rushed over pulling out a small potion vile from her pocket and forcing Ron to drink it although he almost choked on the bitter-tasting fluid, his eyes shot open and his face had gone back to its usual colour.
Madam Pomfrey helped Ron to a chair outside the hall before re-entering and reassuring everybody that he was alright and that the ball should commence.
"He's being histrionic!" Hermione blurted out, enraged by Ron's behaviour.
"'E iz merely shocked" Fleur defends the red-head, squeezing Hermione's hand gently as reassurance.
Harry moves back over to Pavarti getting into waltzing position.
Fleur had her hand place delicately on Hermione's waist as they begun to glide to the music. Gliding slowly to the music, Hermione almost felt like she was floating without the use of a spell. She had never felt anything like that before, Fleur's hands were exploring her body gently as they swayed in the time of the music, their bodies acting as one.
By that time, almost everybody had joined in on the dance including Cho and Neville who Harry kept giving envious glares. Dumbledore and McGonagall were dancing along with Hagrid and Madame Maxine.
Ron sat on one of the chair watching Hermione and Fleur dance closely as the music sped up before some people blocked his view. He had to see them, so he marched angrily onto the floor trying to move next to them.
"Weasly, get off the floor, if you 'aint going to dance" someone says annoying Ron to the extreme. Ron grabs the first person he sees alone on the dance floor and puts his hand around their waist dancing while peeking over heads to spot Fleur and Hermione.
He and his dance partner end up right next to Harry and Pavarti.
"Uhhhh…. Ron" Harry says noticing his best friend next to him, dancing but looking utterly distracted. He had spotted Fleur whispering something into Hermione's ear and Hermione chuckling.
"Yeah?" Ron asks still trying to spot Hermione and Fleur who he had once again lost in the crowd.
"Is there something you have to tell me?" Harry asks.
"No, why?" Ron answers absentmindedly. Ron looks over to whose waist he was holding.
"Bloody Hell!" Ron shouts, his face and ears going red. He was dancing with no other than Roger Davies, the Ravenclaw quidditch captain.
"Looks like Ginny isn't the only Weasly falling for quidditch player's does it? Some Slytherin boy taunts making Ron go even redder.
Ron goes out of the great hall to hide his embarrassment. Harry tries to follow his best-friend but Pavarti holds him where he is.
"What are you doing here?" Ron asks angrily as he turns around and finds himself face to face with Hermione.
"Fleur is getting me a drink" Hermione says happily. It was like she was in dream world.
"Oh Fleur!" Ron shouts out crossly snapping Hermione out of her daze. "I think we should definitely have a talk about Fleur" he said her name like it was a deadly poison or a curse, it made Hermione's skin crawl, she wanted to slap him for saying her name that way. "When were you planning on telling me about Fleur! Or where you planning on having me make a fool out of myself gaping over her and asking her out when you knew I had no chance? He continued bitterly. "and you, were you planning to tell me about you, I was actually going to ask to the ball. I think I have a right to know my best-friend's gay before she turns up at a ball with a girl and makes me look like a dateless git!" He shouts even louder.
"Zid I interrupt something?" Fleur asks, seeing the heated look on Hermione's and Ron's faces.
"Yes!" Ron shouts lashing out at the girl.
"No, Fleur, you're not interrupting anything." Hermione says.
Ron walks off angrily, his dress robes swaying behind him.
"'Ermione, what ez wrong?" Fleur asks, seeing Hermione on the verge of tears. "Zid I do something wrong?" Fleur asks as a few tears stray down Hermione's face.
"No, no, you're perfect" Hermione breaths out, more tears streaming down her face.
"Zen what ez es?" Fleur asks, gently wiping stray tears off of Hermione's face.
"I just expected Ron to be more…… supportive" Hermione says falling into Fleur's embrace.
"Eet will be alright, 'e just needs zome… time." Fleur says gently tracing circles on Hermione's back.
"I hope you're right" Hermione says feeling warmth in Fleur's embrace.
"I 'ope I am too" Fleur says pulling back from the hug and gently wiping away the rest of Hermione's tears. She tenderly cups the younger girl's face and kisses her on her lips softly. It was supposed to be a reassurance kiss but quickly became more heated. When oxygen became an issue, they broke apart, Hermione rested her head on the older girl's shoulder. She chuckles a little.
"Guess I ruined the evening with my crying" She says chuckling, holding on to Fleur's shoulders. Fleur kisses her on the cheek.
"I guezz, we should get back zo ze ball before everyone starts thinking naughty thoughtz." Fleur says giggling.
"I guess we should" Hermione says taking Fleur hand in her own and walking back into the great hall, hand-in-hand.
TBC…
A/N: Please review, suggestions? Anything? Tell me what you think.