A/N: Hey all! Sorry this one is ages after the last chapter. I've had some pretty intense and challenging stuff going on in my life so barely had time to write, let alone felt like writing.

I just wanted to thank all the people that sent me recommendations for Fleurmione stories- holy crap there are some good reads out there that I hadn't read yet! Couldn't have come at a better time either. I've been feeling really all over the place and having some decent reads has really helped lift my mood.

Chapter 7.

Hermione saw Fleur a couple of times after the disastrous week that had ended their budding friendship. Or budding relationship, if Hermione reminded herself of the fact Fleur had happily gone on a date with her.

To her relief, she hadn't copped much teasing for her sexuality being out in the open. As Ginny, Luna and (weirdly) Pansy had confirmed, everyone had taken a bit of a 'who doesn't?' mentality.

Instead, she just faced insistent mocking from the Slytherins about screwing up her date with Fleur so royally.

Jeering in hallways, snarky comments in classes—the usual Slytherin crap.

But that was fine. They were also mocking Harry about his participation in the Triwizard Tournament, Luna in general for being odd, and Ron for being friends with Harry again. It would be weirder if they weren't mocking Hermione about something.

Plus, now the sting of the failure had worn off a bit, Hermione didn't care so much about being reminded of the incident at Madam Puddifoot's. She was far more focussed on helping Harry solve the egg puzzle.

That, and trying to find a way to apologise to Fleur. A task that was proving incredibly difficult.

Fleur was almost always surrounded by a flock of intimidatingly pretty Beauxbatons girls. She was frequently in a group before, of course. But now it was virtually impossible to get Fleur on her own.

Hermione had mentally scripted and re-scripted her apology speech in her mind. She thought about it a lot. How exactly she could explain herself to Fleur. Explain how she hadn't thought things through properly. That she was sorry for betraying Fleur's trust. That she missed seeing the softer side of Fleur.

Hermione had only come close to getting Fleur on her own very few times. Once was when she saw Fleur out on a run while her, Harry and Ron were on their way to visit Hagrid in his Hut.

Hermione had stopped in her tracks, causing the boys to walk right into her back.

Fleur had been running in the setting sun of the day, her long platinum-blonde hair in a high ponytail bouncing behind her. She was dressed in the same outfit she had worn to face the dragon. Hermione had felt a blush colour her cheeks as she took in just how hot the Champion looked.

It was cruel in a way. Ever since she had properly processed that she had a crush on Fleur, she couldn't help but notice how truly attractive the blonde was.

Fleur was running laps of the Black Lake. Her running path was taking her right past the trio. But as Hermione stepped forward, hoping to speak to her, Fleur just sped up her pace and sprinted off.

The next time Hermione saw Fleur was when the blonde was leaving Charms. Hermione and her fellow Charms classmates were waiting impatiently outside the classroom door for their class when the door opened. Evidently, Fleur had stayed behind after her class to talk to Professor Flitwick, as she was on her own.

Hermione had got her hopes up for a chance to at least say hi. Unfortunately, in one fell swoop—Fleur turned down a date from a Gryffindor boy, swatted a wayward hand from a Durmstrang boy and frostily pushed past Hermione without even acknowledging her.

Hermione moped her way into Charms, taking a seat in the back corner of the room beside Ron. Usually she liked sitting closer to the front so she could properly get engaged in the lessons. But today she aimlessly flipped her book open before leaning her head on her hand.

"That was brutal out there with Fleur," Ron whispered to her, "You okay, mate?"

Hermione ignored Ron, staring blankly at the blackboard behind Professor Flitwick.

She wished she still had that Time Turner and could go back in time and tell her past self that everything she was thinking was way off. That she was developing a crush on Fleur. That the research project was a mistake. That doing it would hurt Fleur and break her trust.

She exhaled heavily.

Professor Flitwick was talking now but Hermione was hardly hearing a thing.

She was thinking back on studying in the library with Fleur. How elegant she looked when scrawling down notes. How much her face lit up when she truly relaxed around people.

'If only I'd realised my stupid feelings instead of being distracted with researching Veela,' Hermione thought morosely to herself. She'd really out-Hermioned herself on this one.

Ron went to copy her notes, shooting her an incredulous look when he saw she had yet to write anything down in the class.

"Guess I'll just bloody write the notes for us all, then," Ron muttered under his breath, hurriedly scratching something down. Flitwick had indicated they would have an essay on the lesson in the near future.

Hermione tried to shake herself out of it.

She re-inked her quill, poising it above her parchment.

She prided herself on her academic prowess. It seemed embarrassingly trivial to mess up her grades over something as trivial as a crush.

She rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hand, trying to reel in her wayward thoughts and focus on the class. Flitwick was talking about charms that could put small animals into a kind of stupor.

'Remember that fantastic spell Fleur did to put the dragon to sleep? So complex, so elegant… Such an intelligent solution to the problem. She cast it with such precision too,' Hermione found herself thinking, gazing out the window and sighing.

She shook her head, realising she was already thinking about the blonde again. She needed to get over it. She was hardly likely to see anything other than Fleur's cold and dismissive side for a long while.

The rest of the lesson was difficult. Hermione really struggled to concentrate and keep her mind on the class.

By the time they left and began to head off to Potions, Ron was in total disbelief. He glanced from Harry to Hermione, gaping.

"Harry, can you bloody believe this?!" Ron exclaimed.

Harry shrugged.

"She's got a lot on her mind," Harry commented, casting a wistful look at Cho and Cedric walking through the hallways hand in hand.

Ron shook his head.

"Nope, no way," Ron said firmly, "This is not the Hermione we've known since First Year. As if you're going to let your grades go to crap because of a crush on a girl!"

"You're just worried you won't have my notes to copy off," Hermione snorted darkly.

Ron made a small noise of outrage, but he seemed a little called out by the comment.

As the trio made their way into Potions and sat down at a table, Ron regrouped his efforts.

"Look – Harry would be backing me up if he wasn't hung up on on bloody Cho Chang," Ron replied sulkily.

"Mate!" Harry replied, looking aghast, "I… I am not!"

"Maybe if you spent less time speculating on who your friends are hung up on, you would have enough time to write up your own class notes," Hermione told Ron with a wry smile.

Ron looked outraged.

"Can't a guy just be concerned for his friends?" Ron said, "Now—are you two gonna take notes in this class or not?"

While having their mildly heated conversation, the trio had failed to notice that everyone else had filtered into the class and taken their seats. They had also failed to notice a lank-haired man standing right behind them as they continued bickering.

"I can't be relied on to take notes for all of us!" Ron continued, "Especially not in Potions, you know what a slippery git Snape can be."

Harry and Hermione didn't reply, their eyes finally drifting to behind Ron's head.

Ron paled a little.

"He's behind me… Isn't he?" Ron asked, his voice lowering.

Harry and Hermione nodded.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor," Snape said in a low voice, "And I'm going to be splitting you three up to stop this pitiful bickering. Potter, go sit by Malfoy; Weasley, go sit by Bullstrode; Parkinson, come over here and sit by Granger."

Hermione inwardly groaned. Harry and Ron grumbled as they slung their backpacks and slouched to their new seats, both looking thoroughly put out.

Hermione's spirits fell further as Pansy strutted over to the newly vacated seat beside her. Her raven-hair was looking glossy and impeccable. She slid onto the seat beside Hermione, her short skirt riding up to show her tanned thighs.

Hermione scowled and turned her attentions back to her potions kit and textbook.

Snape was back at the front of the classroom, outlining the potion they would be brewing during the lesson. Hermione tried her best to pay attention to what he was saying.

Thankfully, he wrote up most of the notes required on the blackboard behind himself before setting them to actually making the potion.

Hermione copied them down blindly before gritting her teeth and turning to Pansy.

"You seem distracted," Pansy sneered, smiling broadly.

"My best friend has been mysteriously entered in a competition where people have died in the past," Hermione replied acidly, "Of course I'm distracted."

Pansy smirked, picking the relevant ingredients out of her potions kit and laying them out neatly on the table in front of them.

"Of course," Pansy murmured sarcastically, "Totally unrelated to the Veela having nothing to do with you at all…"

Hermione scowled deeper, beyond irritated with the Slytherin already. They were barely ten minutes into the class and she already wanted to throttle her with her silver and emerald tie.

"You seem to notice Fleur's interactions with others quite a lot," Hermione shot back, "Anyone would say you've got quite the fascination with her. What would your Pureblood Prince say about you crushing on someone with Magical Creature blood?"

She nodded across the aisle to Malfoy, who was doing his best to wind up Harry. Pansy and Malfoy were extremely close. Hermione knew that Pansy hated getting off-side with the blonde prat.

Pansy blushed deeply, frowning.

"I don't have a bloody crush!" Pansy hissed, lowering her voice.

Hermione shook her head, flipping her textbook to the appropriate page.

"I think it's you that has more to work out than me," Hermione murmured triumphantly, delighting in how Pansy's face darkened further. She threw the first three ingredients into the cauldron forcefully.

"Yeah? Well, Draco would be pleasantly surprised by you running research on her like a lab rat," Pansy shot back under her breath, "Anyone would say you belong in Slytherin, Granger."

Pansy whipped her wand at the mixture in the cauldron violently. She threw the next ingredients in before beginning to chop up some roots with considerable aggression.

"If anyone belongs in Slytherin, it's you," Hermione growled, flinging some powder into the cauldron.

The mixture ignited into emerald flames which were ignored by both girls. They were too busy glaring at each other and trading barbs.

"Proud of it," Pansy smirked, "Hmm, maybe House Slytherin can pick up where your research left off? We do so love playing with non-Purebloods."

"You leave Fleur and Gabrielle alone!" Hermione snapped, shoving Pansy.

Pansy looked a little shocked. But then her eyes narrowed and her jaw tensed.

Pansy shoved Hermione back, harder.

Hermione, almost falling, regained her balance. She lurched forward, pushing Pansy with as much force as she could.

Pansy, losing her footing, threw out her arms to try and catch her balance. One of her flailing arms knocked the cauldron, causing it to topple and spill its flaming contents right over Snape, who happened to be walking over to their table.

Snape looked irate as his black robes caught fire with the emerald flames. Muttering a quick spell, he put out the flames, although his robes were tattered where the flame had burnt them. Hermione could see one long, extremely pale (and strangely hairless) leg through the holes burnt in his robes.

"Fifty points from Gryffindor," Snape seethed, "Plus, detention."

Pansy looked momentarily smug as she pulled herself up from the floor.

"Both of you," Snape finished, wiping the triumphant smile off Pansy's face.

"You'll be sorry for this, Granger," Pansy hissed.

Hermione's mood was at an all time low as she made her way into the Great Hall for lunch that day. Ron was looking at her like she was insane.

"Not paying attention in Charms… Getting into a fist fight with Parkinson in Potions… A detention tonight?!" Ron gaped at Hermione, "Who are you and what have you done with Hermione Granger?!"

"It was not a fist fight, Ronald," Hermione replied tersely, "It was a disagreement."

"A disagreement that burned Snape's robes off," Harry interjected, "I don't think even I've made him look that mad before!"

Hermione set her jaw, deciding not to engage with her two best friends. It would only darken her mood further. She sat down at the Gryffindor table beside Ginny, her stomach twisting further as she noticed Fleur gliding into the Great Hall amongst her Beauxbatons friends. Hermione was at least a little cheered by Gabrielle, walking beside them. Gabrielle shot Hermione a friendly smile across the hall.

Fleur looked so painfully beautiful. Her long legs stretched out from her short powder blue skirt as her high heels clacked on the stone floors. Her long white-blonde hair fanned out behind her. Today it was looking more silvery than usual.

Actually, her hair almost looked as if it was positively glowing.

"What's wrong with the guys?" Ginny nudged Hermione.

Hermione furrowed her brow as she looked around. All the males at the table looked thoroughly uncomfortable, adjusting their robes around themselves awkwardly and their eyes looking glazed. Harry seemed the least affected, but even he had a light blush at his cheeks.

It reminded Hermione of when she had run that experiment that had made Fleur's thrall get out of control…

"Sweet Circe, no…" Hermione looked back up to Fleur.

Her confident stride had faltered. She seemed to have noticed that the usual gazes her way were different.

"Oi! Delacours!" Crabbe called out, standing up at the Slytherin table. He had a hungry look in his eye.

Another Slytherin wolf-whistled, which seemed to set others off. Suddenly the Great Hall was full of loud catcalls and lewd comments directed at Fleur and, horrifically, some at her sister.

Fleur was rooted to the spot, looking alarmed. Her friends looked confused, looking at the utterly ridiculous way that the males in the Hall were acting.

Hermione was relieved that at least the all boys at the Gryffindor table were remaining seated and quiet, enthralled but not abusive.

Some students were walking in behind the Beaxbatons girls. A large boy among them in a Slytherin uniform came up behind Gabrielle quickly, grabbing her around the waist and lifting her up.

This seemed to snap Fleur out of her frozen alarm. Within seconds she had drawn her wand and hexed the boy. The Slytherin dropped Gabrielle and fell to the floor, clutching at his face. Fleur, first checking her little sister was okay, stepped over to the Slytherin and began kicking him in the stomach, swearing in French.

Professors stepped in then, finally noticing the furore in the Great Hall. Madam Hooch pulled Fleur off the Slytherin boy and McGonagall took Gabrielle by the shoulder. Snape, Flitwick and Hagrid soon joined them, assessing the Slytherin boy on the ground and muttering amongst themselves.

Hooch and McGonagall steered Gabrielle and Fleur rapidly out of the room, finally causing the effects of their amped up thralls to subside.

Hermione wanted desperately to follow Gabrielle and Fleur out of the Great Hall and check that they were okay. But she was sure Fleur would blame her for their thralls being supercharged like that. Hooch and McGonagall would likely bar her from intervening anyway.

Hermione narrowed her eyes, looking around the Hall.

'How could this have happened?' Hermione thought to herself, 'There are no resources on Veela in Hogwarts except for the book I disposed of. How would anyone know how to aggravate a Veela's thrall like that? And why would they do that to the Delacours?'

Hermione could only see a sea of confused faces amongst her fellow students. It seemed everyone was just as surprised and reeling from the dramatic events that had just unfolded.

"Bloody reckless for them to throw their thralls around like that," Ginny muttered, finally returning to her meal. She stabbed a piece of pasta with a fork.

"They couldn't control it," Hermione replied waspishly, watching as Hagrid picked up the injured Slytherin and carried him out of the Hall. To the Hospital Wing no doubt.

Flitwick and Snape exited the Hall also, looking like they were heading in the direction that Hooch, McGonagall and the Delacours had gone. Hermione just hoped that they wouldn't get the blame for what had just happened to them.

It was late when Hermione made her way to detention. She'd tried to study in the library after dinner, but had just ended up reading the same sentences again and again.

She looked at the slip that had been delivered to her in her final class of the day.

Dungeon 2. Detention. 7pm.

Hermione sighed, looking up at the dark wooden door to Dungeon 2. It was a dark polished wood with a large black iron circle handle. It looked quite ominous set in the cold stone of the walls.

Hermione set her mouth into a determined line. She'd just grin and bear it. The detention would be over before she knew it.

Hermione pulled open the heavy door, walking into the dungeon. She was five minutes early so was expecting the room to be empty.

Her heart felt like it leapt into her throat as she instead opened the door to a familiar platinum blonde.

Fleur was standing in the dungeon, her arms wrapped around herself and shivering. Her impassive face quickly turned into a scowl as she registered Hermione.

"Er, what… What are you doing here?" Hermione asked, her mouth suddenly dry.

Fleur's face turned from annoyed to furious.

"Are you serious?!" Fleur replied acidly, "Don't zink I don't know it was you 'oo played wiz my thrall again!"

"You got put in detention for your thrall?" Hermione gaped at the pretty blonde.

Fleur shook her head, still angry.

"For assaulting anozzer student," Fleur hissed, "One 'oo grabbed my sister."

"That's messed up," Hermione commented.

Fleur shook her head.

"Don't play innocent."

"Fleur—"

The door opened again and Snape entered. Fleur set her face to a careful neutral again before turning her back on Hermione.

Snape ignored both of them, leaning against the blackboard in the dungeon and crossing his arms.

The door opened again and a Durmstrang boy entered, followed by Luna Lovegood.

The dirty-blonde haired Ravenclaw came and stood beside Hermione. She was wearing large radish earrings that were swinging wildly as she moved.

"Luna? What did you get detention for?" Hermione asked, her eyes widening slightly.

"Wandering the castle last night," Luna shrugged nonchalantly, "After hours."

Hermione smiled slightly and shook her head, amused at the dreamy blonde.

The door opened again and Pansy Parkinson walked in, followed by Ravenclaw boy and another Durmstrang boy.

Pansy looked around the room, her eyes resting on Fleur for a moment before flicking back to Hermione. She smirked.

Hermione tried not to let herself get riled.

Undeterred, Pansy strutted over and stood on Hermione's other side.

"Well, well, well," Pansy smirked, "If it isn't Granger and Looney Lovegood."

Luna didn't seem in any way bothered by the nickname, continuing to half-smile dreamily. Hermione scowled at the Slytherin.

"Don't call her that," Hermione replied irritably.

Pansy didn't respond, grinning broadly.

Snape pushed himself off the blackboard stepping forward. His hair looked even greasier than usual, hanging limply around his pallid face. He looked around the room with distaste.

"I'm not going to give you the satisfaction of referring to the petty acts that landed you all here," Snape intoned nasally, "The facts are, you're in detention. For the next two hours, you're going to re-organise the Potions storeroom. Clearing up mess, organising ingredients, scouring cauldrons."

"Easy," Pansy muttered smugly under her breath.

"And to ensure you don't get into any more trouble," Snape added, a horrible sneer overtaking his features, "I'll be taking all your wands from now until the end of detention."

"Vat?!" the Durmstrang boy exclaimed, outraged, "How are we supposed to do the tasks vithout magic?!"

"The old fashioned way," Snape replied, his lip curling as he smiled, "Perhaps ask our resident Muggle-born, Granger, for help if you're unsure?"

Hermione shot a look at Pansy. The Slytherin looked positively irate.

At least that was one upside.

"Hand me your wands and I'll take you to the storeroom," Snape instructed silkily.

He produced a black cloth bag, flicking it open and holding it in front of himself.

Fleur stepped forward first, tossing her wand in the bag irritably before stepping to the door. The two Durmstrang boys and Ravenclaw boy followed suit. Pansy, Luna, and then finally Hermione, did the same.

As soon as Hermione had dropped her wand into the bag, Snape pulled the drawstrings on it abruptly. He then tucked it inside his robes.

"Follow," Snape intoned. He swept forward, pushing open the door and then disappearing into the hallway.

Fleur slipped out the door as quickly as she could. Hermione felt her shoulders slump a little. It seemed Fleur was still intent on avoiding her as much as possible. She sighed, following the rest of the students out of the room and after Snape.

Luna walked beside her, radish earrings swinging.

"I'm sure she'll get over it, Hermione," Luna said reassuringly. Hermione frowned.

"I'm not sure she will," Hermione admitted.

Snape led the group to a similar looking door at the end of the hallway. He pushed it open and then stood aside, gesturing for the students to enter.

The room was a total mess. Hermione wondered if Snape had ever attempted to keep it tidy. Some of the shelves had entirely toppled over and there were ingredients, equipment and rags everywhere. Hermione watched Fleur eye some cobwebs with disgust. The dim lighting in the room made her look even more beautiful, even when so clearly displeased with her surroundings.

The boys set to work pushing up some of the heavy shelves near Fleur, making sure to flex their muscles as they did so. Fleur rolled her eyes obviously, turning her attentions to a stack of different herbs and leaves that were mixed up.

"How come she gets a detention but the guy who grabbed Gabrielle doesn't?" Hermione muttered to Luna, watching Fleur sift through the ingredients.

"He's still in the Hospital Wing," Pansy said, appearing beside Hermione again, a cauldron in her hands, "Guess Delacour packs quite a kick."

Hermione scowled, sick of how Pansy seemed to constantly be in her face this evening.

"Shut up, Parkinson," Hermione muttered, stepping firmly away from the intolerable Slytherin.

She picked a corner of the room where there were some interesting looking, but battered, textbooks. Some looked too vandalised to be much use—notes scrawled over the covers and pages.

It was a good spot to clean—far enough away from Pansy. That and she also had a good view of Fleur so she could keep an eye on her.

Hermione picked up some of the tattered looking textbooks. Her brown eyes roamed over the dog-eared pages and scuffed covers. She wondered idly if Snape would mind if she bothered one of the more advanced textbooks so she could peruse it. She was dying to know what potions were covered in future years. She inwardly snorted—as if Snape would lend her anything. If the greasy git had left her with a wand she might have been able to mend some of the battered books.

She glanced up to the doorway of the storeroom. Snape was standing just outside the doorway, only his robes in sight. He was idly reading a Daily Prophet, no doubt packed full of Skeeter crap.

Hermione's gaze flicked back to inside the storeroom.

Fleur was still organising herbs from the stack on the other side of the room. She bent down to pick up a dried up looking bundle. Hermione felt her breath catch in her throat. Fleur's short skirt rode up a little as she bent to pick up the dried herbs, showing off her long toned legs. Hermione willed herself to stop looking at them, but only ended up noticing Fleur's backside in the form-fitting skirt instead. She felt a dark blush bloom in her cheeks and hid her warming face behind the stack of old textbooks in embarrassment. The room suddenly felt absolutely sweltering. Hermione's heart was pounding.

"First crush?"

Luna came to join Hermione, speaking in her quiet dreamy voice. She picked up one of the textbooks, observing it with a strange diligence that Hermione had not expected of her.

"Er, first one this… intense…" Hermione admitted as quietly as she could, blushing darker. She ducked her head, inwardly praying that Fleur didn't turn around and see her red-faced and flustered.

Luna shrugged.

"We're teenagers," Luna commented, "Nothing to be embarrassed about."

"Some of us have a sense of embarrassment," Hermione replied defensively, eying Luna's dangling radish earrings. She softened immediately as Luna kept watching her with her steady crystal gaze, "Er, sorry. I'm not quite myself lately."

"That's okay," Luna replied.

She stacked a textbook on top of the pile Hermione had neatly started to make. Hermione felt herself relax a little as she stacked another one on top of Luna's one. They were falling into an easy rhythm now.

Luna was surprisingly easy going for someone who was so heavily bullied at Hogwarts. Things rarely seemed to bother her. Hermione had to admire that, as much as some of Luna's flakiness rubbed her the wrong way.

"The Slytherins are giving you a hard time about messing things up with Fleur, huh?" Luna said conversationally, pulling some leaves out of the pages of one of the stray textbooks.

Hermione shot a cautious look at Luna. The Ravenclaw was very immersed in her task, sandy blonde hair falling down over her face as she worked.

Hermione looked back at the textbook in her own hands. Vandalised by some self-titled 'Half-Blood Prince.' Hermione frowned, smoothing down some crumpled pages before adding it to the stack.

"They are," Hermione replied, "But they give me stick about everything. If it wasn't about this, it would be about something else."

"She is very attractive," Luna conceded, glancing up briefly at Fleur, "But she seems very different to who I would imagine you would be attracted to."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked, looking at the blonde beside her, "She's super intelligent! I mean, I'm still wondering why she picked a complex sleeping spell over a stunning spell for the dragon in the First Task."

"Probably because the increased complexity was worth it for the decreased harm to the magical creature," Luna surmised, surprising Hermione, "But no, I meant that she can be a little cold and rude. You can be bossy and rude, of course, but that's quite different."

Momentarily skipping over the insult to herself, Hermione immediately let her gaze flick back to Fleur. The blonde was visibly rolling her eyes as the Durmstrang boy near her tried to strike up a conversation.

"She's not like that all the time," Hermione said, half in reply to Luna, half to herself, "When she lets her guard down she's really quite… Nice…"

She missed the smile that graced Luna's features as the dreamy girl watched her. Luna had far more observational skill than people gave her credit for.

"Are you going to mend things with her?" Luna asked, bringing the brunette's attention back to her.

"Erm, I dunno," Hermione said, embarrassed again. She rubbed the back of her neck, "I've tried talking to her but I either say the wrong thing or she doesn't want to listen… Or both."

"Well… Maybe you should just let her cool off for a while," Luna said cautiously, "Everyone at the Ravenclaw table has noticed she has been in a bit of a mood lately."

"I… I just wish I could talk normally to her without screwing it up," Hermione sighed, "I don't know why I turn into an idiot whenever she is near."

Hermione never in a million years would have pictured herself confiding in Looney Lovegood in one of Snape's filthy dungeons. But, life had a funny way of working out.

"Because teenagers are horny idiots," Luna said bluntly.

Hermione coloured and made a slight choking noise in indignation.

"I'm – You - I'm not—" Hermione struggled to get out, blushing darkly, "I just… Like her is all."

"Yes, well, of course you like her too," Luna replied, "But I mean, it's quite natural for a teenager to get a little tongue tied when speaking to a pretty girl, yeah?"

Hermione frowned. She was above such trivialities.

"I'm not that daft," Hermione muttered darkly, "I'm not some bumbling love-struck teen girl mooning over a 'hot student' in school."

Luna stacked another textbook into their neat pile.

"No," Luna smiled, looking up at Hermione with her crystal blue eyes, "You're Hermione Granger."

Yes. She was.

Hermione straightened her back proudly. She suddenly regretted the classes she had spent mourning her lost chances with Fleur. She wasn't that girl. She was the one that succeeded in every class, no matter what drama was unfolding behind the scenes.

She glanced up cautiously at Fleur again.

The blonde—thankfully—was standing up again, sorting through the herbs on the table in front of her. Her elegant features looked even more unearthly beautiful in the dim light of the dungeon storeroom.

She seemed calmer now she was absorbed in her task and not being bothered by the Durmstrang boy. Hermione found herself smiling slightly as she watched.

Hermione hated the nature of feelings. She'd always loathed the boy-crazy discussions that Lavender and Parvati had initiated in the Gryffindor girls' dormitories. No, Hermione preferred academics and more challenging pursuits. She hated trivialities.

She cocked her head to one side, still watching Fleur. Perhaps she was approaching this all wrong. She was trying to bullishly push through and explain herself to Fleur. If she thought about it, she was behaving an awful lot like Lavender and Parvati did with boys. Hermione frowned distastefully at that realisation.

She should be approaching it like any other problem she usually approached.

She considered the facts as she turned her attentions back to the chaotic textbooks in front of her. She straightened another one out and stacked it on top of the ones she and Luna had already organised.

"You know, you're right, Luna," Hermione finally said, dusting off a filthy textbook, "Maybe I should let her cool off a little first and think through how I approach her."

Luna smiled dreamily at her.

"Yes, well I don't imagine Fleur Delacour is the kind of girl who is easily won over, let alone won back over," Luna nodded.

Hermione looked at Luna appraisingly.

"You know," Hermione said, giving Luna a scrutinising look, "I see why you're in Ravenclaw."