Hermione melted into the embrace the second she woke up. Being held by Fleur was something similar to heaven to her. She felt the blonde tighten the grip on her and realized that the blonde was awake.
"I definitely sleep better when you are with me." She rolled in Fleur's arms, so she was facing the Veela. "And I really don't want to get out of bed." Her girlfriend was chuckling at her laziness and she hid her face into the blonde's neck. Hermione heard a gasp and a contained moan as soon as she nibbled her neck and smirked as the veela's breathing became paintings (it didn't take long).
"Eef you keep zis up, you definitely won't leave zee bed, mon Coeur," Fleur said after a particularly hard bite, as the brunette soothed it with light kisses. She smiled and began moving her kissing up to her jaw and then to her lips.
"Good morning, love." She beamed. Sometimes she still had a hard time believing the gorgeous blonde was hers.
"Bonjour, 'ermione." she pulled the brunette in for a short kiss.
"Bonjour..." the brunette sighed. They began to get ready for the day and as soon as they were both ready, they left the room. Hermione said goodbye to Fleur by the fireplace and the blonde promised to floo her when she got back home in the evening, as always. The lioness sighed heavily, at least she would be able to see her again the next day. Being McGonagall's protégé was really something to be grateful for.
The next two days went by smoothly, even with a not so good night of sleep in the middle. Well, for her there was no stress. She couldn't say the same about her brother and best friend. For them, the two days were nerve-wracking. This first game was always the most important one to Gryffindors as it was against Slytherin, and she knew for a fact that Ginny was giving her blood to show everyone she was good enough to make it to the professional teams (which she definitely was) while Harry was all about supporting his girlfriend. Luna was trying to keep the air as light as possible while she and Hermione tried to reassure them both. That Friday, Hermione, as always, rushed from class to their quarters.
"Merlin, you saw her yesterday morning..." Ginny said as she went through the portrait hole about five minutes after Hermione had.
"Oh, shush! You do the same with Har if you spend more than 24h away from him." Hermione rolled her eyes. "And you basically live with both your dates! You have no say in this." The older lioness laid on the couch and accioed the book she had been reading. That was the only thing that gave away how serious she was about the auror training, it was about tracking and anti-tracking spells. It didn't take much longer for the fireplace to lit up with green flames and the blonde beauty step out of it. Fleur made a beeline to her, picking the book from her hands and reading the name of it.
"My studious girlfriend... 'ello, ma Reine..." the veela leaned down and softly kissed her. "Enjoying zee reading?"
"It's very informative but some of those seem to be rather ineffective..." She moved so Fleur could sit after greeting the others.
"Zey are. I 'ave some better material for you to read eef you want."
"That would be brilliant! Thank you, babe..."
"Anything for you..." Fleur kissed the top of her head and held her closer.
"We are leaving for dinner, lovebirds..." Ginny announced, "don't do anything I wouldn't!"
"We can do anything zen!" Fleur laughed. "And we will be working 'ere. 'onestly, woman, you only zink about sex?!"
"Who said anything about sex, Delacour?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm speaking in Hermione's behalf too when I say I really don't want to hear you talking about anyone's sex life!" Harry hurried to the portrait hole dragging Ginny, Luna calmly following them.
"I don't really care, Har. It's better to hear about it than to hear the action. And I've already heard it more than I'd like to." Hermione smirked seeing how red her brother's face had become.
"I swear I'll cast a permanent muffliato in that bedroom." She heard him mumble as they went through the portrait accompanied by the redhead's laughter.
"So, food now and work later?" The blonde suggested and Hermione agreed, immediately calling Dobby.
Three hours later, Harry and the girls found Hermione and Fleur handling two huge stacks of paper, while even more parchments were in small piles all over the room. Each pile had a month and a year magically written hovering over it. Paper and parchments were flying around and landing on specific piles.
"Sorry for the mess..." Hermione said as soon as she noticed them (it didn't take long, actually).
"Ok... The work's done?" The redhead asked while looking around.
"Not yet but we figured we could organize eet already as we actually 'ad more fronts zan we initially zought."
"It's almost finished, though."
"Zen we'll go zrough eet again before we send eet to Shacklebolt..."
"You really got yourself a soulmate, 'Mione!" Ginny beamed.
"Yeah, yeah. Go have your beauty sleep already, ginger." Hermione rolled her eyes.
"I'm only going because it's a game night." She climbed the stairs with Harry and Luna following.
The two left in the room alone once again resumed their work until everything was neatly organized and stored in labelled folders. It didn't take much for them to sleep when they got to bed. They were both awakened by Ginny, apparently trying to make sure that they would all be on time for the game. Hermione groaned and swore loudly while Fleur laughed at her demeanour. The older lioness pushed her girlfriend from the bed.
"Too happy too early." She mumbled after Fleur yelped in surprise.
"Sorry, chérie."
"Whipped!" Ginny exclaimed as she left the room.
"Still proud of eet!" Fleur shouted back.
"We are going down in thirty!" Harry shouted from his room as both doors were open. "Don't be late, you two!"
"That's my line, smart-ass!"
"Oh, Hermione is grumpy today..." Luna said in a soft tone. And that was the last thing they heard as Hermione slammed the door shut with a flick of her wand.
"'ey, come 'ere," Fleur said to the brunette as she was once again laying in the bed and the lioness was standing near it. She tugged the witch's hand until she moved as asked. "Bonjour, ma Belle..." she said after a long kiss.
"Good morning, love." And Hermione kissed her again, Fleur felt the brunette relax into the kiss. "I'd love to keep kissing you right now, but if we aren't downstairs in about twenty minutes, the two of them will come barreling into here." The blonde groaned but allowed Hermione to get up and out of bed. Fleur had been officially invited, as she was the instructor of the DA (that was a good excuse for Fleur to be there), to watch the game and spend the day. The breakfast was joyful, some of the team members joined them on the table and they all had a great time. After eating, they made their way to the pit with the group of first years they had basically adopted. Ginny and Harry went to the locker room while the rest of them made their way up to the stands. Luna began climbing the stairs two steps a time and the rest of them followed her, the younger blonde pulled from her bag the roaring lion head she always used during every Gryffindor game and placed it over her head. The younger part of the group began to laugh when the hat roared at them.
"Where did you find it? That's fantastic!" Dallas beamed.
"Oh, it was simply a lion hat when I bought it. It began roaring after I put some spells on it…" Luna smiled at him, she spoke in a dreamy voice making it sound as if it was a very simple thing to do.
"Can you make one of those for me?"
Luna simply nodded and cast a Gemini spell, generating a copy of the one on her head. "It will vanish in about a day, I think. But at least now you have one to cheer." She beamed at the raven-haired young Gryffindor.
They had been the first ones there as they had accompanied two of the players (actually, even them were early). Half an hour later, the stands began to fill up. The one they were on held mostly Gryffindors as Luna's hat managed to catch everyone's attention even on the ground. As Hooch walked to the middle of the pitch, Fleur produced two omnioculars and gave one to Hermione, who noticed Luna producing one too. As if they had the same mind, she and Fleur cast a few Gemini spells until all the group was holding the device.
"Thanks!" All of them said at once. And then everybody's eyes were on the ground to watch the team walk in and get on their brooms.
They cheered loudly as Ginny managed to get the Quaffle before the snakes could as the flying teacher threw it in the air. As she sped up towards the hoops, a Bludger went flying towards her being quickly deflected by one of the beaters. Hermione was certain she heard Luna sigh. Before Ginny could go through half of the opposite field, she got hardly body-checked and had to drop the ball to make sure she could stay on the broom. It was quickly caught by a Slytherin chaser who began to race his way to the Gryffindor hoops being closely followed by an annoyed Ginny. He passed the ball to one of his teammates who struggled to hold the ball and stay on their broom as the pass had been done wrongly, apparently. Hermione knew enough about the sport to be able to name most of the classic moves and fouls. She had been truthful when she said she knew the rules, the only thing she disliked was the whole need to be flying. Hermione was cut out of her musings when everyone on the stand she was in cheered as one. She was caught off guard and got absolutely frightened until she felt an arm envelope her.
"'ey, you alright?" Fleur asked with her mouth near her ear in order to be heard. The brunette's breath caught as she felt her girlfriend's mouth so close to her. She nodded despite herself and looked at the blonde.
"Yeah, I was just lost in thoughts, the cheering gave me quite the scare." She felt her cheeks heating.
"You didn't see zee goal?" She shook her head, Fleur smiled at her and refocused on her omnioculars. The lioness couldn't help but feel disappointed for not having her girlfriend's attention anymore. A light kiss on her temple got her back to reality and she saw Fleur offering her the device she had been fidgeting with. "Zought you'd like to see zee first point of zee season." Fleur offered as the brunette accepted the viewing device.
She watched the re-run of the move. She saw the three Gryffindor chasers speeding through the pitch, Ginny holding the Quaffle being flanked by the other two, the green-clad chasers trying to reach them. As they reached the middle of the Slytherin field, a Bludger was sent in Ginny's general direction; the three chasers briefly parted so they would be able to deflect the rageful ball, the redhead gracefully made a manoeuvre (she was actually showing-off) and the iron ball passed without any damage done then the other two chasers were back flanking her. In a quick movement, the Quaffle was passed and with a feint the crimson-clad player scored, making the ball pass through the lower hoop. Fleur had resumed watching the game with the brunette's omnioculars so Hermione kept the blonde's with her. She watched the game absentmindedly, leaning on her girlfriend most of the time and stealing a few kisses from time to time. She didn't want to disrupt the French's concentration, but she couldn't help it. She watched the Slytherin team be massacred as the Lions scored point after point. She saw the moment the snakes get frustrated and angry and begin a more violent game as one of their chasers had the Quaffle stolen and a point be scored in the following move. Honestly, that game could be barbaric. She rolled her eyes as she saw once more the referee signal a foul in favour of Gryffindor. Ginny got the ball and tossed it to the other chaser who quickly tossed it back and off she went towards the scoring area, the redhead manoeuvred around opposing team members and the two Bludgers thrown her way and threw the Quaffle up, soon striking it with her broom's tail. The force it obtained kept the keeper from being able to block the shot, that went through the highest hoop. A classic move for the redhead, she had been doing this one for such a long time that her aim was almost infallible. She celebrated the score by sending a kiss to Luna and making a small loop. It took some time for another goal to be made, but it was scored in favour of the Slytherin team. The stand they were in began chanting 'Go Go Gryffindor' soon after, the roars of the two lion hats became louder as the other students became louder, cheering. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something dive. She had been following the Quaffle being tossed between the crimson chasers but moved her attention to what she was pretty sure was Harry spurting into action, she was right as a moment later whoever was narrating the game yelled: "Potter must have seen the snitch, people! He just dove towards the ground out of nowhere!" The cheering got even louder and everyone now watched Harry fly around the field (who wasn't using omnioculars wasn't capable of seeing the small ball) being chased by the Slytherin Seeker. Bludgers were tossed towards him, only to be deflected by a Gryffindor bat. Harry was near enough to try and catch the tiny ball. The stands went silent as everyone watched him stretch an arm and not reach it. Hermione saw the complete focus and resolution on his face as he moved his body on the broom, leaning forward. She knew then he was going to catch the snitch, no matter what. She rolled her eyes as the realisation came to her, they were both showing off. To Luna. They were so obvious she couldn't help but chuckle. She focused on Harry again, seeing him readying himself to leap from his broom. As he jumped she heard a few gasps around her and smiled. Harry was about to be the first years to-go subject for a while. She knew someone of the team would cast something to keep him from hurting himself, so she told herself not to worry only to see him be grabbed by one of the beaters. Her summoned his broom and got on it before showing the snitch to everyone. Madam Hooch signalled the end of the match. Gryffindor, 290 points, and Slytherin, 70. Everyone began to descend the stairs and they sat back to wait for the crowd to lessen.
"So, what did you think?" Hermione asked their younger companions as she leaned on Fleur.
"It's a good sport. I get the appeal. But I still don't get the flying thing." Moire was the first to answer. The others objected to her last phrase but they all agreed that the game was wonderful. Hermione laughed when Blake pointed out Harry's leap and glanced at Luna who had a dreamy smile. Teagan, on the other hand, was yelling that Ginny was the best player on the team, no wonder the team had won. They began their way towards the ground with the younger Gryffindors discussing each moment of the game, it reminded her of her first year.
"A Knut for your zoughts." Broke her from her memories.
"I was just remembering my first year. Harry managed to almost swallow the snitch and it seemed like he was about to puke when he landed, or rather, crashed down. He was everyone's conversation topic for almost a month." She laughed. "And obviously he almost had died that day…"
They waited for Ginny and Harry outside the lockers, but the younger group had followed the bigger mass of cheerful Gryffindors going towards the castle. Fleur had her arms around Hermione, both facing Luna when they saw the younger blonde's eyes lit up.
"Pretty amazing catch, 'arry…" Fleur said, smiling even before the two players came to view.
"Such a show-off…" Hermione teased as Ginny greeted Luna and waved to her and her girlfriend. Harry following closely (and blushing).
"That leap was quite unnecessary, babe…" Ginny mock-glared at him obviously trying hard to contain the smile on her eyes from taking place on her face.
"Sorry…" He reached for the back of his own neck.
"You were incredible!" Luna beamed. "I was worried for a minute there, though." She kissed his cheek after a small glare. "You too!" She turned to Ginny who was watching the two of them affectionately, "You are a fantastic player!" She kissed the redhead's cheek as she did Harry's.
"That you are." Hermione beamed at her best friend.
"Eh, eet was good enough…" Fleur said, the tease clear by the way she smirked and the glint in her eyes, but Hermione swatted her arm lightly anyway. "What? I was just saying what I zink!" The blonde faked being hurt, making the other three laugh.
"Why am I even close to you bunch?" Hermione rolled her eyes at their antics.
"Parce que tu m'aimes. (Because you love me.) As for zem I 'ave no idea." Fleur said, kissing Hermione's cheek.
"Because I saved you from a fucking Troll," Harry said in all seriousness, making the rest of them laugh.
"Well, I made summers better?" The redhead offered.
"Hardly. You were always playing with them." Hermione laughed at Ginny's stuck out tongue.
Luna didn't offer any answer, simply smiling at Hermione.
"Anyway, we have a party to go to!" Ginny shouted dragging her boyfriend and girlfriend towards the castle, Hermione and Fleur following them calmly.
The party was in full swing when they entered the Gryffindor Common Room. Hermione saw a few Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes's treats going around the room and butterbeer bottles in the hand of virtually everyone in there. Most of the goers were from the crimson house although there were a few Puffs and Claws, the Slys were clearly too close to house pride to be present at a party celebrating someone winning over them. As they entered, Bottles were immediately pushed into their hands by some smiling six-year. As soon as the rest of the Quidditch team noticed them inside the room, they moved as one to hoist Ginny and Harry. Everyone hollering, applauding and laughing as some butterbeer spilt from the bottles. Hermione guessed that the responsibility for the music was with a Muggle-born as the music playing (from what she listened) was basically muggle music.
"What ees eet zat ees playing?" Fleur asked her, her mouth close to her ear.
"Spice Girls."
"Oh, zat muggle girl group, right?" Hermione nodded.
"Spice up your life." The brunette offered after hearing the lyrics. "The one that's playing…"
"Zey're good…" Fleur smiled. They moved to sit on a couch by the fireplace, Luna following them and the other two soon joining them. Some stronger beverage was soon in their hands, although all of the completely conscious of the tests they would have to go through the next day. But it was early afternoon, there was food at a table on one of the room's corner and there was always the possibility of a pepper-up potion, not that any of them planned on having to go there.
An hour later found the five of them sat at the same place sharing memories and laughs. Hermione was especially enjoying the music as they remembered her of her other world, she was swaying a bit along the music playing. She was completely at ease, being at Hogwarts helped, but the familiar moment, a party in the common room with her best friends made the night perfect. The firewhiskey made her a bit looser. Moire appeared out of nowhere, smiling but a bit shy.
"Hermione…"
"Yes, Moire?"
"Uh, the guys were saying there is no way you would dance with us…" The first year had her face completely red and Hermione couldn't help but feel sympathy for her.
"What did you say?"
"I just wanted to ask you all to come…"
Ginny was the first to stand, nodding. Luna smiled and followed her, dragging Harry (who had a terrified expression) along. Hermione looked at Fleur, who simply shrugged and smiled. Hermione smiled back then stood, beaming at Moire. As they reached the rest of the first-year group, another Spice Girls' music began to play. Moire began teaching some of the moves she knew from the music-video and soon the whole group was trying to dance to the hit. As the last chorus began, Hermione, Fleur, Ginny, Luna, Moire, Kassidy and Teagan were all singing along with the music and dancing to the choreography of Stop of the girl group of the moment.
A/N: Hello my dear readers! It's me, your friendly neighbour Celtic!
What did you think of Quidditch? Also some fluff and working... And a scene that I don't seem to be able to get out of my mind: Hermione dancing SPICE GALS! LOL You have no idea of how much I laughed when I wrote this!
Please review, I'm always pleased to learn what you think!
;3
See Yah!
PS: wk: Yeah, but technically she's only instructing Hermione, and our beautiful lioness wouldn't accept if she was at the risk of being treated differently... xD I kind of did think of that...
PPS: If you feel like sending me requests suggestions or prompts, feel free to reach me by PM or email me: celticdaughterfics (gmail)
