On Teenagers & Love
a story by anamatics, beta'ed by HyperCaz
Chapter Four - On Unfortunate (and not so unfortunate) Meetings
Author's Notes: You guys are amazing! Thank you to everyone who reviewed. :)
A few people asked what 'on a pris notre pied' meant. I found it in my boyfriend's copy of Hide this French Book as a euphemism for 'we had a good time' - hint hint nudge nudge wink wink.
A word of warning for the story - there will be a good but of underage sexual content over the course of the story. Hermione is fifteen during Goblet of Fire and Fleur is seventeen, while they age up over the course of it, I feel it is necessary to warn the readership who might find such sexual situations triggering.
There are also some mentions of general World War Two history and aspects of the Holocaust.
"Put it on my life baby
I can make you feel right baby
I can't promise tomorrow
But I promise tonight"
-"Give Me Everything Tonight"
"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string." – Self Reliance
The first time they get caught is in May. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, it is by Professor McGonagall. Hermione is mortified. McGonagall seems completely affronted that Hermione has her hands up the champion from Beauxbatons' shirt and is in the process of leaving a rather spectacular hickey on her neck. Fleur seems completely unperturbed, if suddenly incapable of speaking the English language. It is a handy defense mechanism, not to mention a completely unfair one.
Hermione is in the process of being killed by schoolwork. She can barely make it to the library to see Fleur any more. They've started to meet in the evenings, as Fleur is researching spells for the Third Task and working on her school work as Hermione, Harry and Ron all franticly try to finish the mountain of work they've been set.
Sometimes Fleur sits with them, though more often than not she sits with Viktor Krum. They are sometimes also joined by some of the other students for their respective schools, sometimes alone. Fleur's sister went home not long after the Second Task, and Hermione can tell that Fleur desperately misses her. Hermione does too, to an extent, because Gabrielle was always fun to have at the table with them. She is still young, still getting the basics of wizarding education before she, too, starts at Beauxbatons, but she is unafraid to ask Hermione questions. Hermione likes being able to teach, and feels the loss of Gabrielle's bright eyes and smiling face from the table where Fleur and Viktor now sit like an empty pang in her chest.
Harry watches them at their table behind his glasses and Ron glares at Krum whenever he can get away with it. He is still angry that Viktor brought Hermione to the Yule Ball. Hermione thinks they're both positively adolescent, and is glad that Viktor seems to understand that she's not really ready for a relationship with him. She told him not long after the Second Task – not long after Fleur…
He seems to understand and she thinks that he knows that she is far too young to be involved with someone like him.
"I'm done," Harry announces, throwing down his quill and blowing on his essay to dry the ink. Hermione eyes it for a minute, but holds her tongue. His handwriting is abysmal and he's misspelled at least three words in the first paragraph alone. He'll ask for her help if he wants it, she reasons.
Ron finishes a few minutes later and he and Harry leave the library together. Hermione is still checking her essay for mistakes and tells them that she'll be along shortly. She hasn't made any so far, but she's worried that if she has, she'll have to rewrite the paper. She adds another citation, carefully referencing the page number in her text before marking it down, and glances over at Fleur.
They're alone now.
Hermione's cheeks redden – she hadn't seen Viktor leave. She busies herself with her work, finishing her read through and pretending that she doesn't feel Fleur's eyes on her. That she doesn't feel herself start to squirm in her chair, knowing what is probably going through Fleur's mind.
Finally, she's satisfied. She tucks her essay back into her school bag and sets her books on the cart by the circulation desk to be put back in their respective locations. Madam Pince is going to shoo them out of the library in a few minutes anyway so Hermione doesn't want to get caught deep in the stacks with an armful of books. Madam Pince likes her, but not that much.
Hermione leaves the library and turns right, not heading towards the staircase and Gryffindor, but rather on a longer route that will take her past a secluded alcove that she's been eyeing for the past few days as a perfectly reasonable and out-of-the-way location for some further experimentation. She sets down her book bag and waits – Fleur will be along shortly.
"I 'ad zought zat 'ou 'ad left wizout saying goodbye," Fleur comments a moment later when Hermione reaches out from her hiding place and pulls her into the alcove.
Hermione says nothing, standing on her tip-toes and kissing Fleur. She has Fleur pushed back against the cool stone of the castle walls, her lips moving against Fleur's, telling her that she could never say goodbye.
Fleur's arms wrap around her waist and Hermione leans in closer, her tongue pushing forward. She loves kissing Fleur, loves how Fleur doesn't seem to mind letting Hermione take the lead. It makes it so much easier to really be sure about the suspicion that she's been allowing to fester since Fleur first kissed her after the Second Task.
"Chérie," Fleur whispers as Hermione pushes her shirt collar aside and kisses the spot that she knows will make Fleur moan. She lingers there, her fingers playing with the hem of Fleur's shirt, grateful that it had been a warm day and Fleur is not wearing that infernal jacket that Hermione hates so much. "Come back to ze carriage wiz me," Fleur says, her voice coming in soft pants as Hermione pushes her hands up Fleur's shirt. "I 'ave my own room."
Hermione's fingers pause as she considers this, her lips never moving from their assault on Fleur's neck. She's leaving a mark and she does not care. She wants people to know that Fleur is hers, that she's taken.
She pulls away, acceptance and agreement on her lips, when she is rudely interrupted by a bright light and the very scandalized-sounding voice of Professor McGonagall. "Miss Granger!"
Hermione gulps, pushing away from Fleur and squinting in the bright light emanating from the end Professor McGonagall's wand. They are in so much trouble. "Er… Hello Professor," she says lamely, shifting from foot to foot, drawing attention away from Fleur so that Fleur can fix her collar and not make it quite so obvious what they've been up to.
McGonagall's hair is in a long braid, falling down the back of her neck, and she appears to be in casual clothing. It is a strange sight, and Hermione knows she has (foolishly) completely lost track of the time. "Miss Granger, it is past curfew," McGonagall tuts. Her hands are on her hips and her square spectacles are glinting in the half-light of her wand. "You of all people should know that being out after hours is against school rules. Ten points from Gryffindor."
It has been a long time since Hermione has lost points for her house. She'll have to work extra hard tomorrow to earn them back.
McGonagall rounds on Fleur, her expression annoyed, but there is no real anger in her eyes. Hermione supposes that the wizarding community might have different views towards homosexuality than the muggle world. "And you, Miss Delacour, I have no doubt that Madam Maxine informed you of Hogwarts school rules before coming here."
Fleur looks sheepish. "Désolé, Madame."
"I should hope so." McGonagall extinguishes her wand and makes shooing motions. Hermione bends to pick up her bag. She hands Fleur her bag as well, their fingers brushing and Fleur's head inclining towards the library. Tomorrow then, at the usual time and place. "To bed, both of you."
db
Ron gets one look at their exam timetable and bemoans the fact that their History of Magic exam is the same day as the Third Task. Hermione realizes that she's not going to be able to concentrate or study; she'll be so worried about Harry – about Fleur – about all of them really. She's seen the maze growing down on the Quidditch Pitch and she knows that Hagrid is going to put all manner of unmentionable things within the hedges, once they grow to their full height.
She resolves to study, telling Fleur about this as she color codes her notes in chronological order, cross-referencing them by relevance and likelihood of essay questions. She's glad her parents still send her off to Hogwarts with muggle school supplies, because she would have used up all her limited supply of colored ink a long time ago.
Fleur is particularly fascinated by the neon-colored flags that Hermione's mother sent along with her response to her daughter's most recent letter home. She pulls a bright orange one off of the stack and contemplates it for a moment. "I do not understand 'ou eenglish muggles," Fleur says, carefully sticking the flag back into its place.
Hermione smiles at her. "They find wizards – and the French – to be quite confusing as well."
That earns her a roll of Fleur's eyes and a pout.
They haven't had as much time together as Hermione would like. She's been helping Harry get ready for the Third Task as much as possible, and Fleur has been disappearing off into the depths of the library with stacks of thick tomes to look through as part of her own preparation.
Fleur hasn't asked her, and she hasn't said anything about how Barty Crouch has disappeared and how Harry was one of the last to see him. There's an air of unspoken questions between them, and Hermione can't bring herself to say anything to Fleur. There's something bigger going on here, and they don't know what it is. She's afraid that Fleur will find it as distracting as Harry does.
She pushes a list across the table at Fleur, who looks at it questioningly for a moment, before picking it up. "Quiz me on the major themes?" Hermione asks.
Setting down her quill, Fleur nods. She flips the page over and begins somewhere in the middle. Her voice is quiet, calming, and Hermione is able to answer many of the questions without consulting her notes. The ones that she cannot, or the ones her points are not concise enough on, Fleur corrects gently.
Hermione will not admit how much she is going to miss Fleur Delacour when she's gone.
Later, when her hands are tangled in Fleur's hair and her hips are rocking against the steady assault of Fleur's fingers, Hermione realizes that she could be falling in love with Fleur Delacour.
