A/N: Short chapter this time, sorry! Had a few mixed reviews, hah. Some people really don't like angst, wow! I have to say, it is hard to write stories where it is just all smooth sailing the entire way through. I mean, I'm not going to go crazy, but Hermione has to win her way back into Fleur's good graces and the Slytherins are absolutely famous for being assholes.

Also, I got a few reviews about timeline accuracies- I don't like staying entirely married to the books and when/where/how things happen. My personal preference is to tweak- like moving the First Task up so Hermione had that big impression of Fleur and more time to mull over it.

Anyway, back to the story! Hope you enjoy :)

Chapter 8.

Hermione hissed and sucked on her index finger as she got another papercut. Luna and her had finished the textbooks and now moved on to the large amount of loose papers. Pansy had tried to lobby Snape to let her toss the lot, which had further soured the Potions-master's mood. So now Luna and Hermione were sifting through it all. Snape had set Pansy to mopping the floors in retaliation, further buoying Hermione's mood. It seemed his favouritism for Slytherins did have its limits after all.

Hermione didn't mind sorting out the papers with Luna. There were some interesting tidbits on the papers. Luna seemed similarly interested, commenting on interesting facts she came across in the papers she was organising.

Hermione had noticed that over the evening, Fleur had at least seemed to relax a little around her.

Once she had realised that Hermione had given up on trying to force a conversation with her, the blonde had stopped keeping herself to the furthest away edges of the room.

As Hermione snuck a peek over her papers, she even noticed Fleur had stopped openly scowling. Hermione smiled slightly, being careful to look away before Fleur caught her looking.

"Checking out Delacour yet again?" Pansy asked snidely, flinging herself into a chair beside Hermione.

"What do you want, Parkinson?" Hermione sighed.

Pansy had been busy for much of detention mopping the floors after she'd annoyed Snape by trying to get rid of his papers. Hermione had enjoyed the break from Pansy's needling.

"Just making conversation," Pansy smirked, crossing her legs. She ran a hand through her bob of black hair. It wasn't as glossy after a solid hour of mopping in the dungeon storeroom, but she was still looking infuriatingly stylish.

"Sure you are," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes, "Some of us are still working on cleaning the storeroom."

Pansy frowned, crossing her arms.

"Excuse me, I mopped the floors entirely while you two were busy reading in the corner," Pansy retorted.

"Reading!" Hermione retorted, "Do you know how long it has taken to sort out all these papers and textbooks?"

Pansy smirked unpleasantly.

"I imagine twice as long with you staring at a part-Creature like you want to jump her," Pansy sneered.

"I—" Hermione inwardly cursed how awkward she could get when being called out for her attraction for Fleur, "I do not stare at her like that," Hermione finally managed to hiss.

She straightened her back and tried to look casual as Fleur herself walked past the table of books and papers, the blonde's pretty face perfectly neutral. Pansy observed Hermione's reaction, smiling widely.

"Sure," Pansy drawled, "Maybe if you weren't so busy jerking off to Delacour you would have noticed that you missed the pile of textbooks behind the bookshelves over there too."

Hermione frowned, wanting to retort, before following Pansy's gaze. Sure enough, over by the bookshelves that the Ravenclaw and Durmstrang boy had righted, was a horrific mountain of discarded textbooks and papers even bigger than the one they had just about completed.

"For Pete's sake," Hermione groaned.

"It's okay," Luna said dreamily, "Detention is almost over anyway."

Hermione got up and walked with Luna to the bookshelves. The Ravenclaw and Durmstrang boy were still milling around, moving boxes.

"Yeah, I heard Delacour likes chicks," the Ravenclaw guy was telling the Durmstrang boy.

Hermione ignored them, setting to work on the mountain of textbooks with Luna. She tried not to let herself get irritated.

The Durmstrang boy frowned at the Ravenclaw boy, stopping mid-way through picking up a box.

"Yeah… But she likes boys too, yes?" the Durmstrang boy asked.

"Dunno, mate," the Ravenclaw boy said, puffing out his chest and crossing his arms, "But if she does, I'm betting she would rather a British lad over a… Whatever you are."

"Russian," the Durmstrang boy replied, grinning, "You really think she vould go for you over me?"

Hermione felt her teeth clenching.

"I do, mate," the Ravenclaw insisted, "I bet I could shag her before you could."

Hermione scowled then. She could barely handle how irritated the stupid boys were making her.

"Ignore them, Hermione," Luna counselled her quietly, "Just like I've been ignoring the Nargles in the corner."

But Hermione couldn't help but continue to listen in.

"Yeah?" the Durmstrang boy challenged, stepping up to the Ravenclaw boy, "Five galleons says I fuck her before you do."

The Ravenclaw boy was extending his hand to shake his agreement when Hermione stomped over to them and slapped his hand away.

"Are you really that much of a pig?!" Hermione exclaimed angrily, "How dare you treat her like an object?!"

Pansy Parksinson, as if summoned, sashayed her way over to the conversation.

"Um, weren't you the one running literal experiments on her?" Pansy smirked, interjecting.

"Shut up, Pansy," Hermione snapped, turning to the insufferable Slytherin. She glanced nervously across the room, wanting to check that Fleur was still out of earshot.

Pansy had pushed her far enough during detention. Now here she was, hands on hips, smirking at Hermione with her bright red lipstick.

The Ravenclaw boy was glancing between Hermione and Pansy, entirely thrown off.

"Why?" Pansy challenged, stepping towards Hermione, "You're not her keeper. Although she probably needs one, being part-animal and all."

"Don't talk about her like that," Hermione growled, stepping forward.

Pansy moved even closer, right into Hermione's personal space. Her grey eyes shone with mean-spirited enjoyment. She seemed to be deriving pleasure from riling Hermione up. If Hermione were less irritable, she would have realised that instead of taking the bait.

Pansy chuckled.

"Why are you defending her? It's not like you have a monopoly on treating her like shit," Pansy needled.

Hermione scowled at this. She was sick of Pansy bringing up her mistakes. She felt bad enough as it was without the sneering Slytherin reminding her about it constantly.

"That was a mistake," Hermione hissed between gritted teeth. Her honey flecked-brown eyes flashed with anger.

"See, I don't think it was," Pansy sneered, inclining her head, "I think deep down you're just as Slytherin as I am. You saw a part-Creature and you wanted to use her for your own selfish needs—even if they were dorky as hell."

A muscle tensed in Hermione's jaw. She dragged a lock of curled brown hair behind her ear, trying to calm down.

"It wasn't like that," Hermione said slowly, her teeth still gritted, "I don't see her like that."

Pansy laughed, turning on her heel.

"Admit it, Granger," Pansy laughed airily, "You're no better than the rest of us. It doesn't matter how many Tournaments she enters or Tasks she wins, that Veela is nothing but a hot piece of ass. She's never going to be anything more."

Hermione snapped, lunging forward and shoving Pansy.

"Girl fight," the Durmstrang boy snickered to the Ravenclaw boy, nudging him.

"Shut up before I hex your bollocks off," Hermione snapped, turning to the boys.

"Hermione," Luna stepped forward, putting a calming hand on her shoulder, "When I get bothered by Kiffles, I often have to tell myself that they're just silly little things that like to wind me up."

Hermione took a deep breath. She was being irrational. She didn't even have her wand, for Merlin's sake. She couldn't hex anyone, even if she wanted to.

Luna was probably right—whatever she was on about.

She needed to stick to reason. The last thing she wanted was another detention with Parkinson.

"Luna's right," Hermione growled, "None of you are worth it."

She turned and calmly walked back to the stack of books and papers that they were supposed to be organising. Luna floated along behind her, smiling dreamily.

"Well, actually Kiffles are very much worth it, Hermione," Luna insisted, "Given their disputed existence, if you could ever catch one, you could earn quite the reward."

Hermione forced a smile. While she had forged a surprising friendship with the blonde over the course of detention, she would still never quite get her.

"Sure."

Hermione glanced across the room again. There was a sudden tug in her chest as her eyes locked with bright azure. Fleur was leaning against the wall near the door. She was looking at Hermione so intently the brunette wondered if she had heard the kerfuffle with Pansy and the pigheaded boys.

Fleur quickly flicked her gaze elsewhere in the room, though Hermione still felt the funny feeling in her stomach long after she had looked away.

Snape swept into the room, withdrawing the cloth bag of wands from his cloak.

"Despite your utterly weak attempts at cleaning the storeroom, your detention is up," Snape intoned nasally, "Collect your wands and get out of my sight."

Fleur, in a flash of powder blue and platinum blonde hair took her wand and whipped out of the dungeon.

Hermione couldn't help but feel a slight disappointment within her.

She pondered it as she trailed behind Luna to collect her own wand.

She'd never really had a proper crush like this before. It was strange. Something about Fleur just drew her in. She looked forward to the smallest opportunity to see Fleur, even if it was just catching a glimpse of her across a crowded hall on her way to class.

When she did see her, her stomach would jerk and wobble wildly. Just from catching sight of her!

It defied the world of facts and reason that Hermione had come to hold dear.

It scared Hermione a little.

She'd got so angry at hearing Pansy and the boys in detention speaking badly about Fleur. So angry she'd been close to shoving one of them and landing herself in yet another detention.

Nothing had ever pushed her buttons so dramatically before.

Sure, she'd punched Draco the previous year. But he had been absolutely dreadful to Harry, Ron and herself for years, building up to the truly dreadful conversation that made her hit him.

But Draco had been needling them at a rough time. Harry and Ron had been the first proper friends Hermione had ever had in her life. There were a lot of logical feelings tied in that Hermione had understood, even as she had nursed her knuckles. She'd been surprised she had hit Draco, but she understood it.

Fleur, however. Hermione had only really been friendly with her for a few weeks. The extreme reaction Hermione had experienced to people insulting Fleur in passing just wasn't logical.

"I hate feelings," Hermione sighed, "They don't make any sense at all."

"I think they make sense," Luna shrugged.

"You think Nargles make sense," Hermione grumbled.

Fleur must have moved very quickly through the halls, even in her high heels. She was no longer in sight. Luna and Hermione were trailing behind the boys from detention and Pansy.

"Nargles do make sense," Luna replied absently.

In the weeks after detention, Hermione was pleased to notice that Fleur had stopped actively avoiding her.

She walked past her as if she didn't know her—but she no longer hurried past or glared. Hermione had optimistically decided to chalk it up as a kind of win. In her mind, any thawing of Fleur's ice queen exterior was an achievement.

The downside was that following their stand off in Potions and their subsequent detention, Pansy had doubled down on pestering Hermione. She seemed to be wherever Hermione was, with a jibe or or sneer at the ready.

Hermione was standing in an outdoor courtyard with Harry and Ron during lunchtime, discussing their upcoming Transfiguration test. Harry and Ron were predictably relaxed, declining Hermione's offer to study for the test in the library.

Hermione was at a loss as to how to motivate them. She exhaled heavily, running a hand through her tangled curls.

"You guys always do this," Hermione sighed, "In a week from now you're just going to come to me begging for my notes,"

"Well, it's a good thing we're such good mates then, huh?" Ron grinned, loosening his scarlet and gold tie.

There was a flurry of powder-blue as Beauxbatons girls stepped into the courtyard. They were accompanied by some Ravenclaw boys and Durmstrang boys. Ron glared at them.

"Why are the French birds so crazy for Ravenclaws and Durmstrangs? Have they not heard that Gryffindors are the brave and heroic ones?" Ron sulked.

"I dunno, maybe you should tell them that, mate," Harry smirked, amused at how sulky Ron was acting.

Hermione would usually be rolling her eyes at Ron's behaviour, but she had just noticed Fleur was in the crowd. The part-Veela was shivering, her long platinum-blonde hair tumbling over her shoulders. She didn't seem amused by her friends, her full lips in a pout.

Hermione found herself smiling slightly.

Hermione knew she was in a bad mood because of the cold. Hermione wished she could help her.

Julie, taller than Fleur, moved behind the blonde and wrapped her arms around her. She rested her chin on Fleur's shoulder, smiling and muttering something to the blonde.

Hermione felt a pang of jealousy. She wished she was the one warming up the blonde.

As she continued to watch, Fleur shrugged temperamentally out of Julie's arms. She frowned and began to fish around in her leather satchel. Fleur produced a scarlet and gold scarf from her satchel, pulling it around her neck.

Hermione's stomach flipped. It was the scarf she had given Fleur.

"Looks like some of the Beauxbatons girls do like Gryffindors," Harry commented, nodding towards Fleur.

"Cor! Who gave her a scarf?!" Ron exclaimed in shock, "Why didn't I think of that?!"

Harry elbowed Ron.

"Mate, you know Hermione has a crush on her," Harry reminded Ron.

Ron shook his head, crossing his arms tightly across his chest.

"Who said mates can't have crushes on the same girls?" Ron said defensively, "Besides, Hermione already struck out with her."

'Maybe not,' Hermione thought to herself, smiling slightly as she turned her gaze back to the blonde beauty wearing her scarf.

The urge to go and try to talk to Fleur was bubbling up again within Hermione. She thought back to Luna's surprisingly apt advice about giving the blonde some space. If she wanted Fleur to thaw further, she had to stick to her resolution to give her time to calm down.

"I'm going to the library," Hermione abruptly informed the boys.

At least there, the temptation of talking to Fleur would not be right in front of her.

"Library?!" Ron snorted, "You do know we have more class after lunch, right?"

"I'm aware, Ronald," Hermione replied with a shrug, "Some of us like to keep on top of our work."

Ron cast an incredulous look at Harry as Hermione slung her bag more firmly on her shoulder and headed back inside the castle and off to the library.

The best thing about going to the Hogwarts library during her lunchtimes was that there were never many other people there. It made Hermione feel like she had the place to herself.

On rainy days or during the evenings, the library usually filled up quite a bit with students hanging out with those outside of their own House or frantically trying to get work done.

Hermione sat down at her favourite table, sighing contentedly.

"'Ermione!"

Hermione hadn't even begun to unpack her satchel when the smallest Delacour scampered up to her excitedly.

"Please tell me you haven't snuck off on your own again," Hermione said with a smile, accepting a hug from Gabrielle.

"Non, non, I am being good," Gabrielle told her proudly, a broad grin on her features, "My tutor took me 'ere."

"And where is she?" Hermione asked curiously. She couldn't see the matronly woman anywhere.

Gabrielle smiled slyly.

"She was moving too slowly zrough ze shelves," Gabrielle said mischievously, "So I slipped out to find ze good books."

Hermione sighed, yet she couldn't help but smile. Gabrielle was quite adorable, even if she was a handful.

"Did you find any?" Hermione asked.

Gabrielle nodded emphatically, pulling her backpack off and energetically unzipping it. Hermione leaned forward with interest as Gabrielle pulled out a book. Hermione recognised the cover instantly.

"'Ogwarts: A 'Istory!" Gabrielle beamed, "Now I'm going to be ze one zat knows all ze secret passages and trick stairs!"

"Hey, not all of them are in that book," Hermione smiled. She thought to herself about all the outrageous spots they had found on the Maurauder's Map, the strange tunnel in the Whomping Willow, and the Room of Requirement. None of them had been in the textbook. Still, it was an exciting read and taught Hermione quite a lot of things about the school and its grounds.

"As long as you don't use it to get into mischief," Hermione said with a grin, knowing quite well that she and the boys had got into quite enough mischief over the years themselves.

Gabrielle just smiled cheekily.

"How are you anyway, Gabrielle?" Hermione asked, "I feel like I don't see you around as much."

"Fleur doesn't like me talking to you," Gabrielle said sulkily, stuffing her book back in her backpack.

"I'm sorry about that, Gabrielle," Hermione said genuinely, "I've been trying to make things better with your sister, but I figured she needed some space to calm down. It makes sense for her to be angry at someone for breaking her trust."

"Oui, she 'as a 'uuuuge temper!" Gabrielle said dramatically, before gasping, "But don't tell 'er I told you zat, or she will get annoyed wiz me!"

Hermione stifled a giggle. Gabrielle was truly adorable.

"Gabrielle!" a woman's voice barked from deep in the shelves. Gabrielle's eyes went wide.

"Oops!" Gabrielle gasped, pulling her backpack on, "Zat is my tutor! I'd better go back to 'er! I will see you around soon, 'Ermione! Don't give up on Fleur, she really liked you before she got mad!"

The little girl scampered off, her backpack bouncing wildly as she ducked around the shelves back to her tutor.

Hermione smiled, shaking her head.

As she pulled out her books, she couldn't help but smile wider at Gabrielle's parting words. Fleur had really liked her.

Between that and Fleur wearing her scarf again, Hermione was beginning to feel far more optimistic.