A/N: Happy New Year 2021 everyone!
The Duel
Hermione woke up feeling warm and toasty. She sighed, snuggling deeper into her pillow when she realised that her pillow was a different kind of soft. Blinking her eyes open, she realised she had settled on Fleur's comfy breast and that a pair of very amused blue eyes were looking at her. She frowned slightly but refused to move.
Fleur laughed. Her Hermione in the morning was too cute, "Bonjour ma belle," she greeted, tucking an unruly strand of hair behind a cute pink ear.
"Morning," Hermione mumbled. They were officially on school holiday as of yesterday so no classes whatsoever which meant that Hermione was in no hurry to get out of bed.
"You look very comfy," grinned Fleur.
"I am," Hermione grumbled, snuggling deeper into Fleur. She hid her smile as she buried her face into the blonde's chest. What a way to wake up!
"What is your plan for today?" Fleur asked, playing with the brunette's hair.
"Hmm, sleep, write to my parents, I've got a few Head Girl tasks to do since I stayed back this holiday and hopefully afterwards, spend time with you?" Hermione peered at the blonde.
"Hmm, I 'ave to write to my family too and spend some time wiz ze flock but you can join us? Zhey 'ave all been excited to meet you formally as my girlfriend."
Hermione flushed at the word 'girlfriend', it always gives her butterflies in her stomach. She nodded to the blonde, "I shall come to you as soon as I can. It might take some time, there are a few things I need to go to the library for."
"Okay," said Fleur, kissing the brunette's forehead.
"For now, let's just stay like this for a bit…" Hermione whispered, sighing happily as Fleur chuckled and pulled her closer.
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Fleur was having a nice time with her flock outside in the snow. They had had a snowball fight, practised shooting and fencing and had chased each other around in the snow. Everyone was in a jovial holiday mood.
"You think she vill be yours, creature, you couldn't be more wrong!"
Fleur felt her entourage stiffen up at the gruff voice behind them and turned around, coming eye to eye with Victor Krum.
He took a few steps forward, face scrunched up in a scowl, "she vill be mine," he spat.
Fleur felt her hackles raise and also felt her Veela family emotions, shifting from wary to ready to fight. "She is her own and will be the one to decide who she wants to be with," she replied evenly.
"You are nothing but a beast!" He growled, "I am better than you!" He was still absolutely furious that she had been the one Hermione had agreed to go to the ball with. It should have been him.
"Are you?" She drawled like it was the biggest bullshit she had ever heard. She already despised him for being a Butcher apprentice.
Krum scowled, his hands curling into fists, "Why don't we duel to figure it out? Today, 3 pm behind the quidditch pitch? Your rapier against my longsword," he said, face suddenly changing into a grin.
"I have no time to play your games," replied Fleur, turning back to what she was doing.
"Are you afraid, Veela? Afraid to be revealed as the weak beast that you are? She needs a strong man!" He grinned wider when she saw her bristle and her shoulders stiffen, "You are the Heir apparent of your Clan? You look like a coward!"
"I'll be there," replied Fleur evenly, not bothering to turn back to face him as she walked away.
It was only after she was quite far from the Bulgarians that someone grabbed her arm and turned her around, "What were you thinking?!" Alexia asked, looking at her cousin incredulously.
Fleur rubbed her face with her hands… she wasn't thinking, that was the problem. She was sure Alexia wasn't going to accept that as an answer but she said it anyway, "I wasn't thinking…" Accepting a duel against someone who had little regard to the life of beings, someone who was a Butcher in training was so foolish!
"We could tell that!" Alexia said angrily. "I will tell Madame Maxime so she can put a stop to this right away!"
Fleur grabbed her as she turned to walk away, "you can't…"
"And why not?" asked Brittany, just as furious as Alexia.
"I just accepted, in front of all these Bulgarians. If it is cancelled now, they will know it's me and will think that I'm actually a coward. I'm not. And I said I will be there so as future Chief of Clan, I need to show I keep my word," Fleur explained.
Huffing, Alexia shoved her by the shoulder, "zhis iz zhe stupidest thing you 'ave done so far! I'm not impressed, 'Future Chief of Clan' but be as it may, I can only support you. Just make sure to kick his ass"
Fleur nodded in gratitude. The support of her family was important to her.
"Come," Quinn approached, taking her hand, "we need to prepare," she said as she started dragging Fleur away.
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"Hermione! There you are!"
Hermione scowled at the hiss behind her, checking to see if Madame Pince had heard and was ready to kick her out because of it. Seeing no sign of the librarian, she turned to look at Ginny who looked like she had run through the whole castle to find her.
"I don't know why I didn't think that you'd be in the library on holiday as well," Ginny said, gathering her friend's things and shoving it in Hermione's bag, much to the bookworm's protest. "Come on, we need to go! It's urgent!"
Hearing the actual urgency in her friend's voice, Hermione allowed Ginny to drag her along, "What is going on?!"
"We need to go behind the quidditch pitch," she said as she increased her pace. As soon as they were outside, she did a quick glance at the clock tower. 2:43 pm
"What is happening, Ginny? Hermione asked, exasperated. What did it have to do with the time? She had noticed the redhead's glance at the tower.
"I'm surprised you don't know…" Ginny said, concentrating on navigating them towards the stadium.
"Know what?!" Hermione growled. If Ginny didn't tell her right this minute, she was going to-
"Fleur is having a duel with Victor Krum at 3 o'clock," Ginny replied, glancing surreptitiously at her friend.
"What?! A duel? On Hogwarts grounds? Was it sanctioned? Who is refereeing?" She spat out a quick barrage of questions.
"From what Gabrielle told me, no it's not sanctioned and there is no referee," Ginny said, relieved to see the stadium. Maybe they will get there on time.
"We are not allowed to do unsanctioned magical duels!" Hermione said, trying to stem the worry that was bubbling in her chest.
"Well…." Ginny hesitated before deciding to go for it, "It's not exactly a magical duel, it's a sword duel…"
"WHAT?!"
Ginny barely had time to hear the outburst that she found herself being dragged towards the pitch, barely able to keep up with Hermione's pace. Oh boy…
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Fleur fiddled with the straps of her armour. She was decked in armour, greaves covering her shins, cuisse protecting her thighs, chainmail covering her chest and back and gauntlets and vambraces for her arms. It was weird to have such armour for fighting with a rapier but Krum had chosen a longsword so she had to protect herself.
Brittany batted her hands away and took over the job of tightening the clasps while Quinn was gathering the blonde's hair into a tight high ponytail.
"Here, you go. All checked, sharpened and polished," said Alexia as she handed a rapier and scabbard to Fleur.
Fleur whispered a thank you. She had decided to use her own rapier instead of the school swords, knowing that Krum would come to her with brute force and despite the Beauxbatons swords being of good quality, she couldn't risk her weapon bending or worse, breaking in the middle of the fight. She pulled the blade out of the scabbard, eyeing the craftsmanship with admiration. Her aunt Zora, Alexia's mother, had been the one to forge it, well known as the Clan's head blacksmith. Alexia, having been taught by her mother, was always the one to take care of her sword and she was grateful to have her here with her. Slipping the blade back into the scabbard, she secured it to her hip.
"All ready," Alexia said, giving her cousin a nod of confidence.
Fleur smiled and turned to look at everyone in her family. Quinn winked at her while Brittany gave her a thumbs up. Rachel and Santana were both giving her pep talks at the same time with others chiming in at random moments. She laughed, feeling the tension in her body ebb away.
Santana bumped her shoulders with Fleur, "You better not lose," she grunted, "I'm not gonna do anything to you, puta, but your mate might kill you."
Fleur could only smile in response. She was fucked.
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When Fleur walked into the clearing behind the quidditch pitch with her family and friends, she saw Krum waiting for her, wearing heavy armour while leaning on a gleaming heavy-looking longsword. From first glance, Fleur could see it was a fine blade.
"You are finally here. I thought you ran avay," he said, grinning at his own joke.
"Let's get zis over and done wiz," Fleur said, stepping away from her group, into the space in front of her.
Krum shrugged, "As you vish. First person to draw blood three times vins," he said, grinned evilly.
Fleur heard the roar of outrage from her group while Krum's entourage whistled in agreement. Normal duels, you would get points at every touch of blade to the main body. Plus, they were wearing armour so drawing blood wouldn't be that easy, it would take really strong attacks to do so. He was wanting to go all out.
"What is it? Are you forfeiting? Too squeamish to fight for blood?" Krum asked, bothered by her silence as he approached her.
Fleur nodded, pulling her rapier and getting into a fighting stance. He wanted blood, he was going to have it.
Krum grinned, wasting no time and swinging his sword from above his head heavily, which took Fleur by surprise as she evaded the swipe, the sound of air being sliced whooshing close to her ear. Shots at the head were not allowed, he was obeying no rules. She could hear the outrage from her family but knew they wouldn't intervene.
Krum took another swipe at her and she ducked, dodging the sword. The Bulgarian started growling as the Frenchwoman evaded every attack of his, with her quick movements. He could see why she went for chainmail instead of something similar to the heavy breastplate he was wearing. While weaker, the chainmail was lighter and allowed for faster and more flexible movements. He needed to find a weakness. "I'm going to enjoy finally getting Hermiowny to see how veak you are," he said lecherously.
Fleur knew he was trying to get a rise out of her and wouldn't have lost her concentration but a recognisable gasp from the crowd distracted her for a split second and it was only her quick reflexes that stopped her from losing her head. She could feel the sting on her cheek though and the warmth dripping, knowing her skin had been sliced.
"FLEUR!" she heard Hermione cry out in fear but couldn't take the chance to look for the brunette in the crowd, keeping her eyes focused on the Bulgarian. She knew her flock would find the Gryffindor and provide support and reassurance.
"I have first blood! And she vas here to see it," he said, grinning. It did bother him that Hermione had called out Fleur's name when he was winning but it would end soon. Soon, the Gryffindor Head Girl would see that he was so much better than this disgusting beast! He swung again, watching as the blonde parried.
Fleur felt a tingle on her cheek and wasn't sure what it was but she didn't get much chance to think about it as Krum swung at her again. She parried with the forte of her rapier and moved to the side as she guided the Bulgarian's swing downwards, pushing the longsword away from her, the clanging of their weapons resonating loud in the glade.
"I'll take plenty of joy drawing your filthy creature blood, Veela!" he shouted as he thrust his blade forward, hoping to spear her in her chest.
Fleur dodged sideways, parrying with her sword to keep the blade from her body. She allowed Krum's blade to scrape against hers, sparks flying until their hilts clanged together and then she punched upwards, smiling in satisfaction at the cracking sound when her hilt met his nose. He howled and Fleur wasted no time to swipe his feet from under him, sending him sprawling to the ground. He scrambled up and away from her, touching his broken nose and looking at the blood in his hands incredulously.
"You will pay for this!" He shouted, glaring at her, fire dancing in his beady eyes.
He swung at her with rage, Fleur having a harder time parrying and dodging his swings. It was by complete chance that his blade caught her right at the gap between her gauntlet and vambrace, the former having slipped out of position earlier as she blocked a heavy blow of his, due to a cut to one of the clasps from his blade.
Krum grinned as he saw her bleed for the second time. "One more and you are finished, Veela!"
Fleur eyed him, calculating his moves. He was looking even eviler with his white teeth contrasting against the red of his bloody face. She felt another tingling where she had been cut in the arm and realised that both the new cut and her cheek felt numb. "You are cheating," she spat, realising what it was, "you have coated your blade!"
Krum shrugged, "You like it? I'm just making the field even, Veela! It's a special Bulgarian paralysis oil. It tingles, doesn't it?"
Fleur gritted her teeth at him, knowing she had to end this fight as soon as possible. Thankfully, the arm he cut was not her sword arm or she'd be in a world of problems. She parried another swipe of his sword, guiding it away from her while she got closer to his body and headbutted him, slicing his eyebrow open. He quickly pushed her and shuffled away.
"Vhat is the issue? You don't know how to use your blade?" He growled, taunting as he wiped the blood trickling into his eye with the back of his gauntlet, "every blood you have drawn has been with brawl. Woman like you doesn't know how to fight with her toothpick of a blade?"
Fleur realised just how much he was underestimating her rapier. She knew how to fight with a longsword, having learnt all swords but a rapier was flexible and fast, requiring agility and dexterity.
She parried more swipes from his sword, sparks flying as she danced out of his reach, guiding her body out of reach with her footwork. It was frustrating him, she could tell so she continued, waiting for the right moment to strike. The heavy clangs resonated through the air, drowning the noise of the crowd. The opportunity struck when she took a step backwards to avoid his blade thrust. Krum overextended to try to spear her despite her dodge and she quickly sidestepped the Bulgarian. With a quick set of flicks from her wrist, she carved his cheek...with an F.
He howled as his cheek burned, dropping to his knees, bringing his hand to his wounded skin as his entourage gathered around him to help. He shoved their helping hands away in anger as he got up and glared at her with absolute hatred, realising that he had lost. "You vin, for now," he spat before turning around and walking away, disappearing into the forest, his group scrambling to follow him.
Fleur barely had time to take a breath before she was engulfed in hugs, Hermione at the forefront, wrapped around her chest while others glomped them from all around.
"Ok, enough! She needs to breathe!" Gabrielle called out, pulling her arms away from her sister. She watched with amusement as everyone slowly pulled away except a certain brunette who stayed nestled against the blonde's chest.
"Come on, let's go back to the carriage so I can take a look at your wounds and give you a paralysis antidote," said Quinn, as Alexia shuffled everyone away from the glade. Quinn was an apprentice healer at the Clan and was skilled enough to deal with such minor injuries. After all, Veela were a rowdy bunch.
The group walked back to the carriage, the girls all chattering excitedly as they recounted Fleur's duel with the Bulgarian while Fleur and Hermione were content to follow silently, Hermione holding Fleur's hand tightly. They all made a beeline to Fleur's room, where Santana and Rachel helped the blonde out of her armour while Quinn gathered her equipment to tend to the Veea's cuts. Alexia was busy cleaning the rapier from 'disgusting bigoted Bulgarian branleur's (wanker's) blood'.
"'Ere is a change," said Gabrielle, depositing a stack of clothing in her sister's hands as she wrinkled her nose at the scent of sweat and blood, "Go clean up," she ordered.
Fleur nodded, reluctantly pulling away from Hermione and disappeared into the ensuite bathroom. She didn't take long and came out with one sleeve rolled up to show her wound. Quinn quickly handed Fleur an antidote potion to drink and got to work, stemming the trickle of blood from the blonde's arm and cheek with a quick spell before applying some salve. Putting a bandaid on the shallow cut on the pale cheek, she moved to bandage the arm. "There, all done," she said, patting the bandage.
Fleur thanked her and everyone else as she rolled her sleeve back down and watched as they all shuffled out, Alexia giving her a wink before closing the door behind her, leaving her alone with the Gryffindor.
After a few minutes of silence, she heard Hermione talk, "What was all this about? A duel, really Fleur? A sword duel on top of that?! You could have been hurt! You are hurt! As if the Tournament's chances of killing you is not enough!"
Fleur winced as the brunette's voice got louder and louder with every word.
"And what was all that nonsense he was saying about me? Huh? Answer me!" Hermione said, looking furiously at the blonde.
Fleur nodded and took her girlfriend's hand in hers, "He issued me a challenge. I said no but he started saying things about you and it riled me up and I ended up accepting," she quickly cut the lioness when it looked like she was gonna launch in another rant, "I know! It was stupid but once I accepted, I couldn't go back. As Veela 'Eiress and Chief in Line to my Clan, I 'ave ze responsibility of keeping my word..."
Hermione sighed and sat on the bed next to the blonde, "you can't go duelling everyone that says something about me, Fleur..." she said, exasperated.
"I know," Fleur whispered, embarrassed.
"That was really stupid," Hermione added, watching the blonde's expression.
"I know," Fleur pouted, looking at the brunette with puppy eyes.
"Like Ron level kind of dumb," she said with a slight smile.
"'Ermionnnnneee," Fleur whined in protest, not happy to be compared to Ron for anything.
"I guess I'll forgive you this time since you won," she said, placing a gentle kiss on the bandaid on the blonde's cheek, "no more duels though, I mean it," she whispered, gazing lovingly at the blonde.
"No more stupid ones, I promise," said Fleur, pulling the brunette into her lap and capturing her lips for a searing kiss. She pulled away for breath and grinned, "It's my victory kiss," she said cheekily.
Hermione swatted her gently, before burying her face into the crook of the blonde's neck. She sighed, she loved this, being safely cocooned in the blonde's arms. She again realised how stupid she had been not realising her feelings for her blonde sooner.
Fleur shuffled onto the bed, arms still wrapped around her mate and settled herself on her back, loving the feeling of the mate nestled against her chest. The events and excitement of the day caught up with her as her eyes fluttered shut and she fell asleep.
Hermione heard the blonde's breath even out and smiled against the blonde's neck. Placing a delicate kiss on the skin column, she buried her nose deeper into Fleur's neck, allowing the scent of jasmine to help her follow Fleur into slumber. Maybe later when they woke up, she would tell the blonde that watching her swordfight had been pretty… hot.
RESPONSE TO REVIEWERS:
pclauink: Haha, Rita finding them in a closet! xD I think Ron might like being in the closet with his idol!
Flying high93: We are going to see more of Krum as we get closer to the 2nd task! As for Ron, it was high time Hermione drew a line, I think! I'm happy you are enjoying the details! I always feel it's a weak point of mine. Fleur's family might drop by ;) in the future.
sherry24: Thank you for your kind words! Let me know how you find this chapter :D
E Elliot: Don't we all? ;)
Daises1005118: I don't really have a schedule, I update when I can. Chapter lengths tend to vary from 3.5K to 5K, that's what I work with most of the time. As for the Golden Trio, we'll have to see, it's too early to tell.
Aaron Leach: Thanks! :)
wkgreen: Not too hot yet, I'm such a tease ;)
evattude: Thank you! :)
Npsouls1: Thank you and thank you for reading! :D
xxDark Angel Babyxx: It was hot but it gets hotter later ;)
lipeviez: Thank you lips! Your words mean so much to me 3
kpop1392as: Thank you for your kind words! I have always felt like descriptions are a weak point for me so it's nice to hear you enjoyed it! I'm happy you enjoyed the fluff and Ginny kneeing his brother xD it was a long time coming!
Magic2488: I'm happy to be back! And happy you enjoyed that scene ;)
pangaokao: She deserves an award for that! xD
anasbell305: Thank you for the favourite! 3 They are really adorable together, my favourite couple of all times!
Unknown: Happy New Year! Things are definitely progressing and heating up ;)
Guest: Thank you! Let me know how you found this update!