Light, fluffy snow fell lazily from the sky, leaving a thin layer along the path down to the wizarding village of Hogsmeade. The two witches took the path down to the village at a leisurely stroll, opting out of riding one of the carriages down to the village in favor of spending even more time together. Their conversation was light and consisted of mostly catching each other up on anything interesting that happened over the past week, such as Ron nearly choking on a chicken bone during supper the other day, or Clara snoring so loudly in the middle of the night that she woke herself up.
"So, 'Ermione, what ees ze plan for today?" Fleur asked as she absentmindedly swung their joined hands back and forth. Hermione bit her bottom lip to contain a content smile at the feeling of their hands pressed together.
"I thought we could just walk around for a bit so you could get the general feel of everything, but I do have a couple stops planned that I think you would like before we get lunch at The Three Broomsticks," Hermione said. She peered at Fleur out of the corner of her eye.
Fleur turned and flashed a smile at the younger girl. "Sounds perfect."
Once they reached the outskirts of Hogsmeade, Hermione tucked her hand into the crook of Fleur's elbow and led her onto the dirt trail off the main path that carved through a sloping hill. This trail would lead to the first stop of their mini tour - the Shrieking Shack. The shack was a common attraction for the usual Hogwarts students, but Fleur eyed the beaten down building with disdain, one brow raised at the boarded up windows and busted door.
"'Ermione?" Fleur began, confusion clear in her voice.
"Okay, hear me out first," Hermione started. At Fleur's nod, she continued. "I just thought that before anything between us really...happens -" Hermione awkwardly waved a hand between the two of them as a blush crawled up her neck to her cheeks, "- that you should realize that Harry, Ron and I are magnets for dangerous adventures. One of which occurred here in the Shrieking Shack." The brunette sheepishly waved her hands in the direction of the shack as she trailed off. In hindsight, the trip out here seemed like a better idea in Hermione's head than she was currently making it out to be. Maybe she should have started out with Honeydukes after all.
Hermione was currently on a one-way track to overthinking everything - honestly, who even brought their date to a supposedly haunted shack in the first place? - when Fleur suddenly cupped her cheeks in her hands, sending her thoughts to a screeching halt.
"Zere's no need to worry, ma chérie," Fleur said. "You don't need to explain anything to me, least of all your nefarious shenanigans wiz your friends." She flashed a crooked grin before dropping a kiss onto the tip of Hermione's nose, keeping her hands right where they were.
Hermione flushed from her collarbones all the way up to the tips of her ears. Fleur broke into a goofy grin at the sight, unknowingly drifting closer to Hermione's face until their noses were only a hair's breadth away. Time seemed to slow around them once they both registered their close proximity to each other. All Hermione had to do was tilt her head and maybe lift onto her toes a bit, and their lips would meet - it would be that easy.
And so she did.
Fleur made the cutest, happy little noise in the back of her throat as she stroked her thumbs across Hermione's cheekbones. There was no explosion of fireworks that Hermione had seen mentioned in a few muggle romance novels she had picked up here and there, but the instant their lips met, a warmth grew in her chest and expanded out to her limbs, ending in a pleasant buzzing in her fingers and toes. Something in the back of her mind made a note that it originated from the necklace resting between her collarbones before promptly forgetting that fact when she felt the edges of Fleur's lips curl up into a smile.
Hermione lowered herself back down flat on her feet, gently breaking the kiss in the process. When her eyes fluttered back open, she was met with one of Fleur's bright smiles that caused the last of the air in her lungs to leave her in a quiet whoosh.
"You are...étourdissant, stunning, 'Ermione," Fleur said, the fondness in her tone softening the edges of her smile. The compliment caused more blood to rush into Hermione's cheeks, which in turn led to Fleur leaning in to press a chaste kiss to Hermione's lips. Not one to be outdone, Hermione raised up onto her tiptoes again and pressed another kiss to Fleur's lips, her thumb trailing along Fleur's jawline and fingers curling delicately around the back of the blonde's neck. Hermione reluctantly broke the kiss, but relished in the fact that she could gaze upon the light blush making its way across Fleur's sharp cheekbones.
"Merlin's beard, you have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Hermione spoke gently, almost in awe of the girl in front of her.
Fleur's hands slid from Hermione's cheeks, softly brushing along her ribs until she reached Hermione's waist. She gave a gentle tug, making the younger girl close the last bit of space between them, neither of them paying enough attention to their surroundings to hear the crunching of snow coming from the nearby path. "Well, we might just 'ave to make up for lost time zen, non?" And with that, Fleur brought their lips together once more.
The world came crashing down around them at the sound of several sharp wolf whistles. Hermione whirled around at the noise, her right hand caught tight in Fleur's grip, only to see Malfoy flanked on either side by his goons Crabbe and Goyle. There was a leering hint to his smirk as he nudged a guffawing Crabbe in the ribs.
"Oh, come now," Malfoy began, "the mudblood and the half-breed were putting on such a good show, don't you think, Crabbe? Goyle?"
The look in Malfoy's eyes made fury rise in the pit of Hermione's stomach like acid. However, she didn't even have a chance to spit anything back before Fleur was muttering an incantation under her breath and sweeping her hand out in a quick arc in front of her. Hermione was impressed at the use of wandless magic as all three boys gave a shout as their legs were swept out from under them and then shot straight up, leaving them dangling several feet in the air. A deep scowl settled over Fleur's face, Hermione watching as the expression twisted Fleur's features into something that resembled the veela at the World Cup - her face shifting seamlessly into all sharp angles with blazing eyes and slitted pupils. Fleur disentangled their hands and stepped forward until she was only inches from Malfoy's rapidly paling face, her scowl deepening with each step.
"You must be ze git zat I 'ave 'eard so much about." Her eyes narrowed, her accent seeming even thicker through her anger. "You eenterrupted us."
Malfoy clearly had no regard for his bodily autonomy because he opened his mouth once more. "Yeah, and a bloody good show you and the mudblood were putting on!"
Hermione would have been much more upset at the nonsense Malfoy was spouting if she weren't so busy watching feathers beginning to sprout from the cuffs of Fleur's coat and the backs of her hands, and witnessing her nails sharpening into talons. She blinked, stupefied, and watched as they disappeared once more, receding into Fleur's skin as if they were never there. It didn't seem like Malfoy noticed, as he was too focused on the tip of Fleur's wand suddenly pointed right between his eyes.
"You will keep zat filthy word out of your mouth, or I will do worse zan dangling you by your ankles, enfoiré," Fleur spit out the last word as if it tasted awful. She waved her wand, dispelling the charm she used and not even bothering to cushion the boys' fall as they crashed back onto the ground in a heap. Malfoy opened his mouth to hurl something back at her but never got the chance before a yellow-green bolt slammed into his nose, shoving him back into the snow.
"Fleur!" Hermione hissed. Hauling the boys around with a charm most likely wouldn't have landed them too bad of a punishment, but following it up by hexing Malfoy? That was basically a guaranteed detention with Snape. "What did you even do to him?" She needn't have asked because once she did, yellowish bat shaped bogies began to crawl from Malfoy's nose, took flight and turned to attack his eyes and ears, Crabbe and Goyle uselessly watching in the background. Hermione grabbed Fleur's hand that was still tightly wrapped around her wand and pulled her back in the direction of town. "Come on, let's just get back to the village before someone comes running to help them."
The next few minutes were silent except for the crunching of the snow below their feet and Malfoy's distant yelps. Fleur looked as though she was still about to turn full veela at any second, the early morning light playing across her constantly shifting features as she fought her rage and transformation down. Hermione was fighting to find something to say after all of that. She raised a hand to her lips, a smile trying to force its way onto them as she recalled the kisses they had shared before Malfoy had to come along and ruin everything.
"Are you okay, ma chérie?"
Hermione allowed the smile to shine through as she peeked up at Fleur through her eyelashes. "Yeah, everything's just fine." Fleur's answering smile meant everything to Hermione, so she laced their hands together again and swung them lightly as they continued walking. "Are you in the mood for sweets? Honeydukes shouldn't be terribly busy right now, and it should help distract us from Malfoy."
The next few hours passed much smoother since Malfoy was too preoccupied to come sniffing after them again, and Hermione took great pleasure in showing Fleur all of the British magical candy in Honeydukes. The every flavor beans were a no-go when Hermione said she once got vomit and dirty socks back to back, but Fleur did buy herself a handful of lemon flavored cauldron cakes, some pepper imps, a couple caramel cobwebs, and a single blood lollipop just to taste. Hermione picked up some more toothflossing stringmints for her parents' Christmas present, and then a couple chocolate frogs and licorice wands for herself. With their pockets now laden down with more candy than galleons, Hermione led Fleur across town to The Three Broomsticks to get the beginnings of the full Hogsmeade experience. It wasn't quite lunchtime so it wasn't as busy as it normally would have been, but it was still a bit of a fight to walk between people and chairs to the bar in the smoky atmosphere.
"Ees eet always quite so busy 'ere?" Fleur asked as she barely managed to dodge a younger Hufflepuff student hustling by with their arms full of mugs of butterbeer, foam sloshing over the rims.
"This is about the only place that the students go for drinks and food. There's Madam Puddifoot's, but it's very...tacky, especially around Valentine's Day. Then there's The Hog's Head, which is where all the shadier citizens of Hogsmeade hang out," Hermione said. She then spotted a blessedly empty table tucked away in a corner with four beat up chairs still settled around it. "Oh! Fleur, would you be a dear and go claim that table over there while I grab some drinks for us?"
They exchanged quick smiles and a squeeze of their clasped hands before going their separate ways - Hermione flagging down Madam Rosmerta while Fleur weaved past elbows and knees to take a seat at the empty table. Fleur hadn't been sitting for longer than a few seconds before Clara threw herself down into a chair to Fleur's left, leaning forward on her elbows so far that Fleur was afraid she'd tip right over and smack her chin.
"So!? How ees ze date?" Clara chirped. She leaned forward even further, tipping the chair onto its rickety front legs. "'Ave you kissed 'Ermione yet?" At Fleur's blush, her eyes widened comically and the back legs of her chair snapped back down to the ground as she gasped. "Fleur! You 'ave to tell me everything! Is she a good kisser?"
"Clara! Me and 'Ermione are still on our date! Zat you are interrupting!" Fleur exclaimed, shoving at her friend's shoulder as she noticed Hermione's bushy hair weaving through the crowd in their direction.
"Oh! Hullo, Clara!" Hermione slid into the other empty seat beside Fleur, a mug of butterbeer in each hand and a pleasant smile gracing her lips. "If I had known you were dropping by I would've grabbed you a drink as well."
Clara waved her hand dismissively. "Zere is no need, I am simply 'ere to interrogate Fleur about your date." She smirked at the matching blushes that the girls sported. "Zat well, eh?" Fleur fumbled with her mug and took a quick sip to try and hide her blush, which only sent Clara into a fit of giggles when she ended up shoving her nose into the mountain of foam on top of the drink instead. Clara swiped the mug from her and took her own sip before sliding it back to Fleur. "I'll leave ze both of you now, 'ave fun! Don't do anything zat I wouldn't!" Clara then swept away with a dramatic flip of her scarf and a wink thrown back at Hermione.
"Well," Hermione started, "I think I quite like her!"
"Do not even zink of telling 'er zat or I'll never 'ear ze end of it!"
Hermione's answering laugh was almost worth imaging Clara's inflated ego, and Fleur couldn't help but to lean forward and press a lingering kiss to the corner of Hermione's mouth. Fleur was rewarded with a pretty blush spreading rapidly across Hermione's face and an answering kiss pressed to her own lips.
"Now then, will you tell me all about these 'adventures' you, 'Arry, and Ron have gotten yourselves into?" Fleur asked. "I can't 'elp but to wonder 'ow the three of you had an adventure inside an old 'aunted 'ouse."
Neither of the girls wanted the night to come to a close, but every day must come to an end. Hermione felt like she had been walking on air from the first moment her lips touched Fleur's. Every thought in her mind was taken over by the blonde witch that had rarely let go of her hand since they left the Three Broomsticks hours ago. But as night fell over the town of Hogsmeade, Hermione and Fleur boarded the last carriage back up to Hogwarts for the day.
"I had a really nice time with you tonight," Hermione said as she got comfortable in the worn carriage seat.
Fleur wasted no time in sidling closer to Hermione until their thighs pressed together. "I 'ad a nice time with you too, ma chérie." She raised one of her hands to tug at the red and gold scarf around Hermione's neck. "I 'ad such a nice time that I am absolutely freezing and will be taking zis for the time being."
Hermione laughed as she unwound the scarf from around her neck and handed it over. "You can just keep it, bring some diversity to your wardrobe."
Fleur let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like an offended squawk. "My wardrobe is fine! I just like ze color blue!" She wrapped the scarf around her neck with a huff, the scarlet and gold contrasting ridiculously with the blue of her coat, though Hermione couldn't help but to think that there wasn't a prettier sight than Fleur wearing something of hers.
"Don't worry," Hermione said, "I'll get you into the Gryffindor Pride soon and you won't be able to resist wearing scarlet."
A cocky smirk slid onto Fleur's face - the same one that graced her lips after the first task when she was still filled with adrenaline from outwitting a dragon - and Hermione found no reason to stop herself from wiping it off with a kiss.
Oh. Hermione thought as Fleur made no move to stop kissing her, I can get used to this.