Hermione is someone who has always needed a constant. She is always wanting to learn more and to grow more as a witch, as well as a woman. She never pauses, she always goes forwards. And because of her constant need to know more, her thirst of knowledge often being the downfall of some of her adventures, Hermione didn't quite realise just what she was needing until she met Fleur. Fleur was an unwavering rock for Hermione. She was the constant which Hermione needed. She was the hand on the back which caught the younger witch when she fell, but she was also the rope which pulled her forwards.

Fleur was unwavering, in her support and in her restraint. She was the contestant which Hermione didn't know she needed but now that their fates are entwined, Hermione cannot imagine life without the blonde catching her when she fell and pulling her forward and back on the right path.

After the war, Hermione will admit that she did have a downfall of sorts. While she did go back to Hogwarts to finish her final year before joining the ministry, the scars which Hermione got from the war, physically and mentally were still fresh and Hermione had the type of coping system which involved bottling things up. And so, she tried distracting herself by overworking. Not a wise method of processing pain, but one which she chose otherwise.

She tried her best to keep her emotions intact, often brushing them off as she poured herself into work, working through the ranks at an amazing speed which surprised most of her colleagues as they never expected such a young person to work at such a break-neck speed before. There was almost no pause button on the brunette and Hermione kept working herself to the bone, something which was quite common knowledge to those who knew her but those who knew her far more closely would be able to tell that it was out of sorts for Hermione to be pushing herself this hard.

The only time she pushed herself this hard was when she first got her time turner in third year, the brunette being in the worst stage of health the two boys had ever seen her in before with how much work she overloaded herself with. And so, when the two watched the witch work herself to the bone in the ministry, they knew that it was getting to the extent like back to when they were in their third year and they were getting worried, A lot of Hermione's friends were getting worried as Hermione was not looking well. Bags under her eyes and sluggish behaviour. She is not sleeping well. It was very clear.

And no one saw it more clearly than Fleur did.

While the both of them got scars from the separation and from the war, Fleur was the one who clearly saw just how Hermione was suffering. While Hermione has done a pretty good job hiding a majority of it from the blonde, she could not hide all of it and Fleur has seen the flash of suffering in the brunette's eyes as they spend time together. When Fleur manages to pull Hermione away from her desk, she has seen the anguish in Hermione's eyes, the shaky breaths of restlessness which was a sign of how much it was almost an addiction for Hermione to work to plague her mind with ministry information than of the suffering she went through during the war.

But she couldn't hold it in forever, and Fleur was there when she eventually just snapped.

Hermione was just writing in her office, going through another night of overworking, long past the time she was supposed to have ended. She knows that what she was doing was unhealthy, but she kept pushing the fact at the back of her mind. She was fine, she was fine. She just needed to work to keep her mind off things. Besides, she needed more time away from Fleur as the two of them had a rile last night due to Hermione coming home late yet again.

She hates fighting with Fleur more than anything and the bitter feelings from last night had not disappeared when they woke up this morning as Fleur was already gone when Hermione woke up from her sleep, one which she was forced into as Fleur had spiked her tea with sleeping draught.

She was not ready to face the older blonde yet and so that was probably another reason why she has stayed out after hours again. Although it will probably back-fire even more as she as doing the exact thing that Fleur was angry about in the first place, but she couldn't help it. She had a lot of work to do.

She was busy filling in a form, one about one of the laws the department was wishing to have passed to preserve the rights of House Elves. Hermione was reaching for the ink pot to re ink her quill but in her tired mind, she accident tipped the pot, and it went drawling on the paper, ruining it completely. Hermione was in mid curse as her eyes broke away from the paper and to the ink spill, but her eyes widened as she watched the dark ink trail and seem into the wood and paper on the desk. The dark liquid, which was thick and staining, almost like blood.

Hermione began to shake, her breathing immediately getting unsteady as she stared at the ink, her eyes widening as her memories flashed through her mind, the ones she had been trying to block. A knife digging into her forearm, the cackling of a dark witch as she carved into the younger witch's arm. The blood which poured out of the wound and then trailed along the floor of Malfoy Manor.

The lock which she kept on those memories had broken and now all of the memories she had tried locking away were at the front of her mind, reminding and taunting her off all that she experienced during the war. And Hermione just snapped.

It was like she didn't have control over her body. It was acting all on its own. It was like she was watching a movie as she watched her body move on its own. Her arms sliding things of her desk, smearing the ink over the desk even more, flipping her chair over and throwing books out of the bookcase in her office. She was watching in third person as she wrecked her office. Panic and anger in control as she screamed and cursed, completely losing control of her composure.

She doesn't know how long she was out of it, just letting her instincts and emotions in control for the first time ever since the war. This was raw, real emotion which she was showing. Something she had been restraining for so long. Soon afterwards, she was sitting on the floor in the middle of her chaotic office, ripped pages of books all over the floor, overturned furniture and ink-stained wood and papers all over. She was hugging her knees and sobbing heavily into them, hugging herself as the echoes of loneliness and pain surrounded her entire being, taunting her into a dark sleep which she could never wake up from.

"Hermione!"

She was suddenly in a warm embrace, arms wrapping around her from behind as a nose was nestled in her brown locks as she sat on the floor. The perfume which reached her nose was so familiar and in the dark mind space she was in, Hermione lit up at the recognition of it. Flowers, just like its owner.

"Hermione! Ma belle, ma belle…"

The voice which was calling out to her was desperate but tender at the same time. She could hear the panic in the undertones of it, but she also found the strength in it. The kind of strength which was calling for attention, calling for Hermione's attention.

"Hermione look at me. Look at me please. I'm here. I'm here for you."

The voice was reaching out to her, the arms wrapped around her squeezing her while the face in her hair nestled even closer, air escaping the lips behind her as they moved to her ear and pressed a soft kiss behind it.

"Come back to me Hermione. Lean on me. Lean on me."

The memories were fresh in her kind and all she was seeing was the blood that she had seen during the war, the death she witness and some which she was the cause of. Death eaters, underlings, Fenrir Greyback. The death of many she witnessed and was the cause of. They were plaguing her mind and the death of her friends were also still so fresh in her mind. She saw her friends die. They were dead while she was living. She didn't deserve it. She didn't deserve it.

"Hermione…please."

The voice was yearning for her and the darkness in Hermione's mind was slowly dissipating, the memories becoming fuzzy and instead being replaced with the image of her needs, slightly blurry due to the tears which were overflowing in her eyes. Hermione could feel her body throbbing in pain, her hands throbbing as she hugged her legs tightly in front of her. She became more aware now, aware of her surroundings and much more aware of the body behind her. The strong arms holding her and the shaky breaths of the body behind her which was calling out to her in French. Hermione's heart fluttered as she recognised the feeling of the embrace and of the perfume reaching her nose.

"Fl…eur?"

Her throat felt like sandpaper and her tongue felt like lead. But she called out to the blonde who was in the room with her, hugging her like Fleur was the only anchor keeping the brunette here on this earth. And in the state which she was, Fleur probably was the only anchor keeping her here right now.

Hearing her name leaving the brunette's lips, Fleur let out a sob which was trapped in her throat and she hugged Hermione closer to her, her breath shaky but trying her best to keep it steady as she called out to the younger witch.

"Mon amour, I am here. Please mon amour, lean on me. Lean on me. I am here to hold you. You don't have to hold it in anymore. Give it to me. Give all your pain to me."

"F-Fl..eur." Hermione stuttered out, her throat hurting as she called out to the blonde, new tears filling her eyes as she loosened her hold on her legs and slowly turned around to latch onto the blonde, Fleur wrapping her arms around Hermione and pulling her closely, clinging to her just as Hermione was to her as the two of them melded together into one.

Fleur felt Hermione's tears immediately soak her shoulder, but she did not care. She just hugged Hermione closer, stroking her hand down her back while the other clutched the back of the brunette's head to press her closer. Hermione has finally cracked open, after holding it in for so long. She needed to be grounded but to be held up at the same time. And Fleur was going to do that for her.

"I-It…I…o-our friends…the w-war…everyone…I…"

Hermione wasn't making any sense as she dug her nails into Fleur's body, clinging to her desperately as tears kept overflowing. But Fleur didn't say anything, she just held Hermione closer to her. Sobs were wracking out of Hermione's chest and she wailed as she hugged onto Fleur.

"I...can't handle it anymore Fleur. I-I…I…just can't live through it all."

"Yes, you can, because you are strong enough." Fleur immediately said, hugging Hermione as she nestled her face into Hermione's hair. She inhaled the brunette's natural scent and squeezed.

"B-But F-Fleur…o-our friends…t-they could be alive b-but instead I-I am-"

"Alive and here. Here with me. You are strong Hermione, and you went through things which no one ever should. But you lived. You are a survivor. And that is not something to be ashamed off."

Hermione felt Fleur attempt to pull away, but she just responded by hugging her closer. Fleur stroked her back and hushed quietly in French before pulling away just to see Hermione's face, bringing her hands to cup her girlfriend face and wipe away her tears.

"You don't have to be ashamed of anything. You survived. You survived and are making the world a better place. That is something which is to be admired. You are fixing the world, which was broken, and that take the most courage in the world. Live for your friend Hermione. Live for those that they lost and most importantly, live for you. You lived. You have a choice to make life better. A life for all folk. A life for me. For us."

Her eyes never left Hermione's and each word she delivered was like a nail to Hermione's head. Precise, factful and true. And it made Hermione sob at hearing such genuine words from the blonde. Fleur leaned down and pressed her forehead against Hermione's, her eyes fixed on Hermione.

"You don't have to hold such a strong image anymore mon amour. I am here for you. Your friends are here for you. Don't be afraid to show your pain. I am here to hold you Hermione. I am here to help you walk again. Please, let me help you. Let me help you like you have helped me and everyone else. Share with me Hermione."

Hermione's mind was telling her to stop acting so weak and to just bottle everything up again. But her heart was telling her to give in to everything she has suffered. With a sob, Hermione just lunged and hugged Fleur, clinging to her once again as she opened up her being to Fleur, Fleur hanging onto her like she is everything in the world to her. Which she is.

"H-Help me Fleur…p-please." She begged, allowing herself to break open completely now. Fleur responded with a fierce hug.

"Always."

Fleur unwavering support is what got Hermione through the toughest times in her life. Fleur is a rock which keeps Hermione grounded, but also the rope which keeps her moving forwards. She was unwavering. No matter what she was going through, she was always there to support Hermione, whether through her career or through her personal life. She was always there to help her. And it was her unwavering help and support which got Hermione through the worst of everything. She needed Fleur and it has become more evident as the two grew together.