Hermione was doing as she as always did, rerunning things through her mind, she did it with lessons, books…and at that minute it was the moment she had with Fleur about the ball. She couldn't help but wonder if Fleur's answer to her invitation would have been the same if she hadn't felt pressured by Krum's presence.

She was sitting in the very same chair in the library, thinking about her relationship. She knew dating could only distract her from her studies, she couldn't concentrate on her arithmancy, something she loved.

Hermione made a face as she spitted out. She had started to bit her quill as she mused, like she did sometimes a pen at home. She was removing the last part of barbs when Laetitia sat next to her. "What in hell are you doing?"

"Nothing. I was just…" She made a gesture with what was left of her quill.

"Nevermind."

"What are you doing here?" It was the Gryffindor's turn to ask.

"I was bored."

"Where is Fleur?"

"Training. I was sent away because I was… supposedly distracting her." The French girl rolled her eyes.

"Don't you have some kind of conquest you could be with?" Instead of annoying me was left out. The first part had slipped out on its own already, before she remembered she was supposed to try and play nice with the brunette.

Laetitia smirked "Don't you have better things to put in her mouth?" Hermione wasn't sure understood, wasn't sure she wanted to. She opened her mouth to respond but the other girl beat her to it "Then I guess Fleur's training is taking some of your time with her too."

With her mind running fast, it didn't take long for Hermione to picture…to think about what Laetitia was suggesting. She blushed and looked down at her book, trying to think about arithmancy. Trying hard to think about arithmancy.

A few seconds later her book was moving away, pulled by the annoying one. Hermione slammed both her hand on top of it. She immediately looked around for Madame Pince, she knew she had gotten away with what happened last time only because of who she was. One of the librarian's favorite students.

"Don't make a scene. I don't want to be thrown out like last time, or worse, banned." Which should have already happened for her public display of affection with Fleur.

"We're in a library. I was merely trying to look at a book. You're the one making a scene." Laetitia raised an eyebrow as she leaned back into her chair.

Hermione closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She looked at the older girl warily, as she wondered if she could do it. She didn't like talking about things this personal, but she was pretty sure the French girl wasn't about to leave and being with Fleur's best friend was making her think about the Beauxbaton's champion. All of it was going to drive her insane.

She moved closer to Laetitia, lowering her face and voice "I…hmm…I have something…on my mind. Can I...ask you…about it?"

The brunette moved closer too "Sure."

"It's about Fleur."

"Oh. Not so sure then. I won't break any of our best friend's confidentialities, but ask away, I'll still help if I can."

"I've been having doubts about…"

"If you finish that sentence with 'you and fleur's relationship' I'm ready some knock some sense back into you."

"No! Not about the relationship. Not in itself anyway. It's just…I've asked her to go the ball with me but…would she have still said yes if it wasn't for the whole Krum situation?"

"You can't be serious. Do you have any idea how many people she turned down for you? As soon as she heard about it she turned all girly about dresses and make up, wondering what you'd like? For her, this ball has always been about you."

Hermione opened her mouth in a silent wow.

"The only thing is that she was planning to ask you."

"Oh."

"Yep. You just beat her to it."

"I was wondering who was supposed to…do the asking when it's two girls."

"Even when it's a boy and the girl, it's whoever wants to ask, or is the first one to. Don't fall into stereotypes. I've done plenty of asking people out, both genders."

Hermione cleared her throat, she had no doubt about it but didn't want to be rude. "This is awkward for me."

"Obviously." Teased the French girl.

Hermione glared before looking down for a second "Listen I've never…done this before."

"Gone out with a girl. I could tell."

"No. I mean yes. I meant I've never done this before."

"Never?"

"Never ever."

There was a silence after that during which they both fidgeted.

"Never?"

"Laetitia!"

"Sorry. It's just…you're kind of cute." Hermione blushed as the older girl added. "Not that I'd ever make a move on Fleur's…" She trailed off, and another silence started.

"You know what. Forget I said anything I'd better…go back to my book." Hermione made a move towards it but was stopped.

"No. No. I'm sorry. I really didn't expect that. Okay. So…you're scared shitless?" It was a rhetorical question, Laetitia kept on going "Listen it's normal to be scared. And not only because you've never done it before. There is always this thrilling fear with every relationship. Will they say yes? If I do that, will they like it?"

Hermione groaned, used to the other girl antics, but this time wasn't the case.

"Get your mind out of the gutter. It doesn't necessarily mean something physical, although even if there are some common things about it, I mean I'm sure you've…at least read books about it. People have their own preferences, about everything."

The Gryffindor was lowering herself on her chair, why were people bothering her in the library. It was supposed to be nice and quiet. Safe. It was so embarrassing, even more so when she made a mental note to check out book about…That.

Laetitia wasn't done. "Just. Be sure to communicate. And don't assume things about the other, you own mind can play the worst tricks on you. Be yourself, don't play games if you want it to work. And if you don't want me to kill you, don't hurt Fleur."

"Right. Scared is normal, talk about it, don't listen to the tricky voice full of doubts? That's it?"

"Use protection."

Hermione groaned. "I…thanks… I guess."

"There are all kinds of spells, like for…"

"Stop right here. I'm really grateful for…you listening to me and all. Now could you please leave."

"That's not very nice!"

"Probably, but I really need to finish this arithmancy paper and I'm pretty sure your mind…is now in your pants."

"N…" Laetitia didn't finish her word before she conceded as she got up. "Fine. I'm going. I'm pretty sure there is some kind of quidditch training right about now."

"There you go. You'll have more fun playing or watching a good game."

"Or just ogling good looking people in sports uniforms." Laetitia winked before going.

Hermione watched her leave before going back to her book, sure, well hoping, not to get interrupted again. She reread the last few lines again before frowning once more. Wasn't Ginny playing quidditch that afternoon?

Hermione had been studying for a good hour when she stretched, she could see through a window that some people were still on the pitch.

She sighed as she put everything back into her bag, she was curious to see who was still out there, and a little worried that Laetitia was probably one of them.

It didn't take long for her to arrive at the quidditch pitch. She was a little surprised to see it a little crowded. She understood why as she realized who was flying. The four champions, Fleur and Cedric on one side, opposed to Harry and Viktor.

Viktor hadn't been allowed to play seeker, he was keeper instead. Cedric and Harry were both seeker as usual. Fleur was obviously a chaser as she was throwing the quaffle as hard as she could in Viktor's direction. He blocked and she made a face before flying back.

Hermione climbed up the stands and went to sit next to Ginny.

"Why aren't you playing?"

"I was, then Harry came with Ron."

"Okay, where is Ron?" Hermione expected him to remain close by.

"Infirmary. I might have jinxed him." Explained Ginny.

"What? Ginny!"

"Don't Ginny me, you set a giant spider after him."

"He provoked me." Argued Hermione.

"Believe me he deserved it too. He told me I wasn't allowed to play with the other, even less with Viktor Krum and…"

"You don't need to go on. Knowing you, I understood at 'allowed'. Which team is winning? Or are they just having fun without really keeping score?"

Ginny snorted. "They are so keeping score. It's 50 for the red team, 30 for the blue. Red is Harry's team. Blue is Cedric's"

"Are they captains?"

"No, it's Fleur and Viktor."

Hermione groaned but didn't comment, even when she felt Ginny's look. She looked up to look at the game, this was definitely not a friendly one.

They kept on going at it, it was getting dark, some students were leaving but that didn't stop the players. It was 130 Red, 170 Blue. Hermione was holding on to the edge of her seat as Fleur kept on flinging the quaffle aggressively at the Bulgarian, sometimes Hermione wondered if she was aiming at him and not the goals.

Krum was a worldwide famous seeker, but he was showing that he was an amazing keeper too. He never got distracted by the many remarks Laetitia kept on making as she flew with her best friend, chaser too. The third one was Angelina Johnson, the three of them seemed to be having a blast.

"Are they seriously going to wait for someone to catch the snitch for it to end?" Finally asked Hermione as she turned towards Ginny who just shrugged.

Hermione pulled out her wand before pointing it at her throat. "Sonorus." Her voice was as loud as if she was using a megaphone. "It's getting late, don't you think it's time to stop?"

The players stopped moving on the pitch. It was obvious that they were talking to each other before flying down. Fleur was sweaty and had a big smile on her lips as she gave a quick kiss on her girlfriend's lips. "Sorry we got carried away."

Most players weren't wearing a complete quidditch uniform, just a few protections. Hermione was paying particularly attention to Fleur's clothes, form fitting, clinging to her in all the right place. The Gryffindor could understand what all the fuss around sport was about. She was trying not to be too obvious while she was ogling the blonde when Krum joined them.

"I didn't agree to stop. Only both captains can agree to stop if the snitch isn't caught. My team wins."

Fleur stood extremely straight as she looked at him as if he was nothing. "Everyone is leaving, so yes, you can say that you won… all by yourself." She finished with a very sweet smile.

Feeling the tension getting higher Hermione grabbed Fleur's hand. "Come one, let's go eat. I'm starving." The Beauxbaton's champion nodded as she pulled out her wand and used a quick spell to clean herself.

Fleur looked one last time at the Bulgarian as she wrapped her arm around the smaller girl's hip and kissed her cheek before going.

Unfortunately, as the group stepped in the Great Hall, they separated to rejoin their respective house table.

Fleur didn't let go, even held on tighter when she crossed Krum's look. Hermione was still self-conscious about the way people looked at her, she couldn't help but fidget when she felt uncomfortable under people's stares. As they walked down the Gryffindor table she was feeling that pressure again, a strange need to squirm, thankfully Fleur was by her side. She always felt safer with the blonde next to her. She was nervous but defiant, like they could look, she was with Fleur.

Hermione tensed as she saw young boy, probably a first year run by with a nose bleed. They all as down as the Weasley twins were congratulating each other. She glared suspicious.

"What did you do?"

"Nothing." Was their simultaneous response. That in itself could be suspicious. She tried to stare them down.

"Were you trying one of your sweets again? I thought you were not supposed to."

I was Fred who moved forward as he explained "We are just trying to build a business here. All our tests subjects are aware of the risks and agreed to it."

"Except for Harry's cousin." Interjected Ginny with a grin as she piled up food in her plate.

"That was the least he deserved." Defended Fred.

"And it wasn't our first run with the Ton-tongue Toffee. We had already tested it on Ron. We knew it was safe."

"Safe to give an abnormally long tongue to a muggle boy?" Asked Hermione, who turned towards Harry - he witnessed it after all - for support. He shrugged, chicken leg in his mouth, he lowered it enough to say "It was funny."

Hermione was getting irritated. Callous people. She opened her mouth to badger them again but Laetitia had heard something interesting.

"Wait wait wait. Did I hear you correctly? Did you invent a…sweet, that could make someone's tongue longer?"

Fleur instantly dropped her head into her hand in a groan, while Hermione frowned.

"We are not admitting, nor denying it" Stated George.

"Fine. Hypothetically, if there was to be such a thing. How big would the said tongue get and how long would that last?"

Hermione was frowning harder. She knew she was missing something as Fleur was starting to blush.

"Why? Is there someone you want to prank?" Asked Fred, he glanced at Hermione before continuing "Because hypothetically we could have other…things we could offer."

"Prank? No. A giant tongue is something I'd like to try out. You know." Laetitia raised and lowered her eyebrows a few times.

George started to laugh as Fred's jaw dropped for a second. "That's…something we didn't think about. That's opening it to a whole new demographic."

His twin got serious they started to think about it. "We'd have to adjust the dosage; we wouldn't want it to be a few feet long for…that."

"A few feet long?" Frowned Laetitia as she glanced at her very red best friend, who only shook her head. The brunette then turned to the muggleborn.

Hermione was still wondering what was really going on, but couldn't help but explain. "When they used it on Harry's cousin it was four feet before it was reversed."

"Okay, but…how long is it? I'm French, we use centimeters, not body parts."

Hermione chose to ignore the snark. "Well…if I remember correctly a foot is around thirty…"

Ginny rolled her eyes as the older girl started to explain. She cut her off as she slammed her hands on the table, arms spear wide. "This is more or less that long."

Laetitia deflated, her shoulders dropped a little. "That's too big. Nervermind." She sighed.

"We're not known for giving up! We could do a line with different sizes, different flavours?" Fred turned towards his other half for confirmation. George nodded. "Don't worry our ton-tongue toffees will give you complete satisfaction."

Laetitia straightened up as she raised an eyebrow. She didn't have time to respond. Hermione finally had to ask. "Okay. Would someone please explain it to me? I know I'm missing something. Why would someone want a freaking long tongue?!"

Fred and George were looking at her smiling obviously very amused, before looking at each other and laughing hard. She knew it was useless to turn to Fleur, she was squirming, looking at the ceiling, still blushing. She looked at Harry who became very pale, babbling something she couldn't understand.

Next, she went to Ginny, who turned beet red as soon as she did. She opened and closed her mouth a few times. "No. Not me." She pointed at the French girl facing her.

Laetitia had a Cheshire cat smile on. She poked out her tongue and made what could be considered an obscene move with it.

Hermione frowned harder, before the black-haired girl started to raise her hand, index and middle finger in a V shape. Fleur slammed it down instantly on the table. "Don't you dare!"

As they started to ague in fast French, Ginny made the others jump as she finally stated. "Lesbians Hermione! Lesbians"

"What?"

"That's the answer to your question."

"Oh." Hermione's eyebrows suddenly went up. "Oh! Oh Merlin." She turned pink and pretty much everyone around her laughed, which made her blush even harder.

"You really are clueless." Drawled Laetitia.

"That's so cute" Commented Fleur to her friend.

"Someone needs to show you the ropes." Laetitia continued; she received a glare from her fellow French student. "I meant…at least give her a book or something."

Hermione groaned as she heard them laugh again, she was trying to be as small as she could. She felt mortified and alone in this, until she felt a hand on her lower back, sliding until it was resting on her hip. She looked at her girlfriend as she blonde slowly pulled her closer.

The Gryffindor hid her face in the crook of Fleur's neck. "That's enough people."

"Come on Fleur we were just…" Laetitia stopped as she got a mean glare from her friend.

The others laughed harder after watching this interaction, that is, until Fleur turned her glare towards them.

There are days like this, Hermione knew as she got up that something was wrong. Maybe she was still annoyed at Ron for being a brat about everything, he should have been studying instead of complaining about this potion's test while building a card castle out of his exploding snap pack.

Harry wasn't any better, he was more worried about this stupid dance and finding a date than figuring out the clue for next task. He had more or less two months left, but after figuring it out he'd have to plan and train. She sighed; she'd probably have to push…help him.

She understood that this kind of social event could be nerve wracking for so many reasons, but it was not that important. Not more than school. Or staying alive during a stupid competition.

As she finished getting ready at least she knew she was going to ace that test. Last day of school before Christmas break. She stepped out to face the day.

She didn't see Fleur, nor Laetitia that day. Though for the latter it wasn't a big loss. She could feel people glancing at her as she ate more or less alone. Thus she ate as fast as she could before dashing out.

She found her Gryffindor friends in the common room. Ron and Harry were laughing next to an embarrassed Ginny.

"Why weren't you at dinner?

"Because – oh, shut up laughing, you two – because they've both been turned down by girls they asked to the ball!" Said Ginny.

That shut Harry and Ron up.

"I'm sorry Harry. I knew you really wanted to go with her."

He looked down, not sure what he could say. Ron sure did. "What about me?"

"That's different he liked her, you are just being a chauvinist pig, judging girls solely on their looks, making fun of them while thinking you deserve better. That you are better. I can't believe I…" She shook her head before she kept on going. "Eloise Midgen starting to look pretty good now, is she? Well, I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere who'll have you."

"At least I didn't get a date who is just using me. I feel sorry so sorry for you, that's why I…"

He trailed off when Harry and Ginny tensed. Hermione saw it too.

"When you what? What did you do?!"

He straightened up, trying to look as tall and self-righteous as possible "I…I…I asked Fleur to go to the ball with me"

The other two stepped in between them before Hermione could take another step forward. "Don't act like you did if for anyone but yourself! You ridiculous…"

"Hermione. Calm down. He's just…being…stupid. She didn't even dignify his question by an answer, she just looked at him like he was a tiny slug or something." Recounted Ginny.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? He was supposed to be my friend! He's been nothing but hateful and disrespectful! He dared to ask my girlfriend out!" Her eyes were full of tears.

Ginny had nothing to say to that.

"Hermione…" Trailed off Harry as he watched the girl climb up to her dormitory.

Ginny just turned towards her brother. "You had to be an arse! What's wrong with you?!"

She made her way towards the common room entrance.

"Where are you going?" Asked Harry.

Ginny turned around right before she stepped out. "I'm getting some reinforcement. I'm getting Fleur."

Harry sighed before glaring at his friend. "I know you're jealous, but asking someone's girlfriend is just wrong."

"What?! I'm not jealous!" Harry gave him a look but didn't comment. "I'm sorry okay. I couldn't help it. I don't know what made me do it! I was just walking past her in the Entrance Hall – she was standing there talking to Diggory- it sort of came over me – and I asked her! The worst part is, there were people all around!"

"The worst part? Nervermind. Why couldn't you just say that to Hermione?"

"Are you kidding? I couldn't admit that to her!"

Harry groaned.