It's not that Hermione thought she would be kicked out of the house by a bunch of redheads, actually, she knew it wouldn't happen. As far she was able to gather and from what Ginny had told her, it was more likely that Ron could be thrown out of the window if he very much looked at her the wrong way. Apparently, most of the family was supportive of her. But Hermione couldn't help being nervous, every single time she and Ron had a roll it didn't go well for her and mostly Molly would end up taking his side. Ok, there shouldn't be any sides, honestly. She was currently trying to calm herself down, taking really deep and slow breaths as they climbed the hill that would take them to the burrow.
"Ma belle, you know I'm 'ere for you, right?" Fleur said as she felt the soothing thrall wrap her and calm her mind. She nodded, getting closer to her blonde girlfriend to draw strength and comfort.
Before they could reach the door of the Weasley's household, Luna appeared from the backyard smiling.
"Hey! Everyone is playing Quidditch. Well, except me and Mrs Weasley. We are watching."
"Hi, Lun!" Hermione smiled at her and moved to hug her. In a blink, they were following the dreamy blonde to the makeshift pit the redheads had near the house.
"Oh, hi darlings! Come to sit with us! How are your parents, Hermione?" Mrs Weasley greeted them happily and offered a glass of cooled pumpkin juice.
"It was great! Unfortunately, they couldn't come, but they will join all of us in France."
"And I trust you already knew them, Fleur? Of course, you did, we all met them after the last battle…"
"Oui, zey are lovely… 'ow 'ave you been, Molly?"
"Oh, fine. Just fine. I really love a full house. Charlie couldn't come to spend some time but he'll be home for Christmas." The redhead smiled.
Hermione focused on the game going on just in time to see her best friend send the quaffle through the middle hoop. Fleur, Luna and she cheered, making the focus shift to them. Ginny and Harry landed first and greeted them, being followed by the rest of the Weasley clan. She felt uneasy when Ron moved to hug her and it was completely understandable if she had to be honest. The younger redhead wizard was acting as if nothing happened at all, something that annoyed her to no end but was expected. It was a quick hug but long enough for Fleur to tense a bit something Hermione noticed easily through their connection. Ron waved to Fleur but remained quiet despite his obvious need to say something.
Ginny saved them from whatever it was by inviting Fleur to join them on the game and Harry shouted the two would be on different teams, immediately grumbling that they were the two best players there. Hermione smiled and sent her blonde to the game despite her worry.
"Better make some points for me." She teased.
"Always. We could try playing football later, non?"
"Ok..." Hermione grimaced. That wouldn't be easy.
They ended up not playing. The Quidditch match took all evening, only coming to an end when Mrs Weasley said all of them should get clean and ready for dinner. Dinner was quite a good time. Mr Weasley asked as many questions about everyone's day as he could and basically questioned Fleur and her about the mates' matter.
"So, you two are already bonded?"
"Uh, no." Hermione answered wishing he wouldn't ask further.
"How were you sure she's your mate, Fleur?" He asked, ever curious.
"Zee moment I saw 'er in zee middle of zee battle I felt zee need to be close to 'er and to fight by 'er side and protect 'er, not zat she needs protection..."
"That's beautiful..." Molly smiled at them. They were all sat in the Burrow's living room, with Fleur and her sharing a loveseat, Ginny, Luna and Harry snuggled into each other in a couch, Mr and Mrs Weasley sat on armchairs near each other and the rest of the family scattered on the floor. Fleur had produced a bottle of wine earlier and they all were having a glass, except for Ron who had decided on something entirely different and stronger, Firewhiskey.
"Right, beautiful." It wasn't the first mumble she heard from Ron but she was growing annoyed with his attitude. She felt Fleur lean into her and kiss her cheek and couldn't help but smile at the action.
It didn't take long for the older couple excuse themselves and leave them alone (obviously, after they all promised Mrs Weasley they would be on their best behaviour). As soon as they heard the door close, the twins looked at each other and immediately congratulated her for getting Fleur. They both received a push on the back of their heads from their respective girlfriends.
"I'm zee lucky one, 'onestly." Fleur answered as they moved to the ground and rearranged themselves so Fleur's back was leaning into Hermione's front. The lioness felt herself blush and placed a kiss on the blonde's neck to hide the crimson of her cheeks from the others. They were all close to each other. The night passed and they talked about everything but Hermione noticed that Ron had been quiet for a long time. She glanced at Harry to see if he noticed too and the man shrugged.
"HOW CAN YOU ACT AS IF THIS IS NORMAL?" He exploded after a few minutes.
"Ron? What are you talking about?" Fred looked confused. Hermione then realised that given the twins weren't leaving at the Burrow anymore, they probably weren't exposed to their younger brother bigot. She sighed and tightened her hold on Fleur (who she could feel was ready to attack him).
"Your brother is displaying his prejudice towards me and Fleur..."
"Us too," Ginny added, surprising Hermione. "He has been nothing but horrible to Lun ever since we got here." She felt her body tense at the revelation. The lioness steeled her eyes and controlled her anger.
"Ronald, you should really think about how much of a pain you are being to all of us. You have no right of opinion over my relationship or Ginny's. And, honestly, if it disturbs you so fucking much that we are both happy, we should reconsider your place in our lives." She said coldly.
"YOU ARE BOTH DYKES NOW AND I'M SUPPOSED TO BE OK WITH IT?"
"Just shut up, mate." George tried.
"I SHOULD HAVE HAD AN IDEA WITH GINNY WITH ALL HER INTEREST IN QUIDDITCH!" Hermione noticed he was on a roll as it seemed he wasn't capable to stop the screaming show.
"You really should shut up, Ron," Bill said, getting up.
"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? YOUR FUCKING EX STOLE HERM-"
"YOU BETTER SHUT THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW, RONALD!" Hermione shouted, interrupting his rant. "I was never yours so Fleur didn't steal me-"
"RONALD BILLIUS WEASLEY!" Mrs Wesley's voice resonated in the building, making all her children shiver. "YOU GO TO YOUR ROOM RIGHT NOW! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU SAY ANOTHER WORD!" He walked to the stairs obviously still fuming. Mrs Weasley appeared from her room. "Hermione and Fleur, dears, I'm sorry. I've been hoping he was a bit better... Luna, I'm sorry you've been putting up with him these last days..." The three of them nodded and the matriarch smiled. "Now, I'll really get some sleep. I trust you'll be responsible. Goodnight." A chorus of good nights was heard and the older witch vanished from the stairs.
"So, we never heard..." Fred began.
"...how you three got together." George completed as the two of them gave the trio something akin to the Cheshire cat's grin. She laughed as she saw their faces become red.
"I thought Molly would have managed to get the story out of them by now." Hermione teased.
"Oh, she did. Our devil-like twins arrived just yesterday evening and missed the whole storytelling." Bill offered. As the trio began telling their stories, Bill moved closer to them gating their attention. "I'm really sorry about that. You shouldn't have to put up with it..."
"Eet's not your fault, Bill. I just don't understand why 'e's like zat."
"We don't either." He answered.
"Honestly, I think he's always been a bit bigoted," Hermione said, not really to anyone other than herself. "He just had it fixed on house prejudice."
"I'll never understand zis system of yours. Eet obviously divides zee whole school..."
"It's just because of the-"
"Zee founders. I know. I read 'Hogwarts: a 'istory', mon Reine," the blonde turned around just enough to kiss her cheek. "I just don't agree with eet completely."
Hermione ignored her urge to discuss the book in order to smile widely at Fleur and hug her. "I don't either. But Minerva is working on it. The house prejudice isn't as strong as it was before..."
"Why do I feel like it has something to do with you?" Bill asked smiling.
"Because eet 'as. My beautiful mate and zose zree are setting an example for zee rest of zee school."
"We have noth-"
"Mon Ange, you do eet without even noticing. Ze DA ees an example of eet. Even zough you aren't ahead of eet anymore, zee DA accepts any student who wants to learn from any 'ouse zey might be." Hermione felt herself blush. "And I'm aware zat eet was your idea." Fleur beamed at her and pecked her lips.
"Ginny is right, you are too sweet." Bill laughed and the two of them rolled their eyes.
The next day had most Weasleys with a slight hangover, Hermione concluded as she and Fleur walked into the kitchen. Mrs and Mr Weasley were sat on their usual sits on the table while their sons and respective girlfriends groaned and hugged the mugs in front of them. The older couple waved them good morning and motioned them to help themselves.
"I guess you thought ahead as always, 'Mione..." Harry smiled at her as he entered the room, followed by his girlfriends.
"Oui, we took zee potion just before we went to bed."
"Lun saved us from the misery I see my brothers didn't scape."
The whole exchange was done through whispers as to not disrupt the hangover the others had.
"Shouldn't we-" Luna began.
"Yeah, probably. But it's so fun to see their misery..." Ginny teased.
Hermione had decided to offer them the hungover counter potion but Fleur beat her at it and was standing in a flash. She saw the blonde go back upstairs, take the kettle after coming back and spike the rest of the tea with the potion. She silently filled the redheads' cups. Well, almost every one of them. Ron's cup remained untouched. She saw Molly nod at her girlfriend in understanding. Fleur took her seat next to her and kissed her cheek. Bill was the first to thank her, even before he took a sip, smiling knowingly. The twins moaned as the drank their tea obviously feeling the hangover receding, their girlfriends were much more subtle but seemed just as relieved.
"Sorry, Ronald. We don't 'ave any potion left." Her girlfriend spoke smugly as the youngest redhead looked around trying to find the source of relief his brothers found.
"And you will have to nurse your hangover the muggle way," Molly added sternly. After breakfast was finished, the family's matriarch suggested that they could go out for a walk and enjoy the beautiful day they had ahead. "I'll call you for lunch. No worries, dears." They accepted the offer and went on their way to change before they could go. "Ronald, you stay and help me with the dishes and the food for lunch." She said, making said redhead groan and begin to complain. "I don't want to hear it. Maybe it will make you think about what you are doing wrong."
Lunch came in the form of a large picnic basket carried out by Mrs and Mr Weasley themselves.
"Ronald isn't feeling well so he stayed inside."
After eating the sandwiches Mrs Weasley had made them, they simply stayed scattered around the field for a bit.
"Fleur, I remember you saying something about football?" Luna asked, smiling broadly.
"Foot-what?" Mr Weasley asked.
"It's a muggle sport. A quite popular one I might add." Harry offered.
"It seems interesting."
"Eet ees. I went to a game with 'ermione and 'er parents."
Hermione felt Harry's eyes on her. She shrugged, "It was an Arsenal game. Dad moved worlds apparently to get true tickets." she smiled.
"And I found out zat 'ermione ees quite good at eet," Fleur said, as she moved away from Hermione's grip. Hermione kept herself from running after her.
"I need to see that." Ginny smiled.
"We could play it for a bit..." She said, grabbing her wand and transfiguring her shoes into football boots and did the same with everyone else's. Harry accioed one of the old quaffles the redhead family had and handed it to her, she transfigured it almost immediately. The older wizards insisted they would only watch. They began with Hermione explaining the rules, then she and Harry showed the rest a bit of the game. They didn't get to actually playing a match since none of the others knew how to play or truly understood the basics of the game but it was a fun time. To Hermione and Harry mostly. The other wizards were so confused by the concept of using their limbs to play on the ground that they commonly tripped over themselves or missed the ball completely. Once they started getting the ball every try, she and Harry decided to up their game and made them kick the ball moving towards them. Fleur was the first one to try. Hermione tried to hold her laughter but as soon as Fleur freaked out not knowing what to do as the ball rolled fastly towards her. The blonde finally tried to kick it but missed by a mile. The lack of impact on her feet threw her out of balance and she fell to the ground bum first. There was a deafening silence for about three seconds then every one exploded in laughter. Hermione managed to control herself and stop laughing a moment later and moved to help the pouting blonde up to her feet. She smiled at her girlfriend and kissed her, trying to make the pout go away.
"Sorry for laughing, love..." She whispered, "it's just that you freaked out then missed the ball by a mile and-"
"I am aware of eet." Fleur crossed her arms.
"You made the cutest face when you hit the ground... I couldn't stop myself from laughing... Sorry, really." She smiled apologetically at her blonde. "What can I do to make it up to you?" Hermione asked while tugging a lock of the blonde tresses behind Fleur's ear.
The blonde seemed to be thinking, but she knew she wasn't really upset. Fleur caressed her own chin as she feigned being in deep thought then locked eyes with her.
"Maybe a kiss?" Hermione said, kissing her softly on the lips. The blonde shook her head. "Uuhm... More kisses?" She followed her phrase by relentlessly kissing every reachable surface of her girlfriend's face, successfully making her chuckle and smile. She smiled back sweetly and got lost in her eyes. "God, you are beautiful," she whispered. It was so low that she almost doubted the blonde had heard.
"Merlin's balls! You are gross!" Fred broke their moment.
"Ginny was right, you are gross!" George added. They both received a slap on the back of their heads from their respective girlfriends.
"We are sorry, they aren't completely trained." Fred's girl said smirking.
"Not a problem, we are actually used to them. But good luck training them." Hermione laughed.
The day ended with a disgruntled Ginny since she didn't get the gist of the game, a tired and happy Fleur and all of them completely dirty. Fleur nagged her to know when she would be able to watch her playing. Hermione had the feeling she would only embarrass herself but promised that she would arrange for it to happen sometime along summer.
Once again the group was enjoying each other's company (except for Ron, who had returned to his bedroom early) with a glass of wine. Hermione was beginning to notice how everyone started enjoying the scarlet drink a bit more since they started to hang out with Fleur and smiled.
"I think Fleur did something to all of us. I've never seen any of us drinking wine before." She commented jokingly.
"Oh, zee wine did eetself, mon Coeur. You just took notice of 'ow eet ees good to spend time with friends and a bit of wine." the blonde laughed.
"Right, the fact that its veela wine means nothing." Harry teased.
"Well... Eet ees indeed to enjoy only with family."
"Aaawn, you consider us family." Ginny teased.
"Oui, of course. And even eef I didn't myself, 'ermione does. Eef she says you are family, zat's what you are."
Looking around, Hermione noticed Molly dry her eyes discreetly and the rest of the Weasleys try to hide their wet eyes. Luna crossed sights with her and smiled widely. "You do know that you are family to me, right? You've given me more than I could ever hope to have from a friend's family." Now they were all getting emotional. "I never thanked you for welcoming me... But I am. Thankful..."
"And with that, we should change subjects! Unless we want to drown ourselves." Ginny said after using her shirt to dry her cheeks. They all laughed lightly, all of them with tears in their eyes. Hermione was sure she was blessed. Less than ten years ago she had discovered a new world, one that she could fit in. Then she found a family that practically adopted her. Now she had the love of her life (she was certain of it) and her family was getting even bigger with the Delacours addition. Thinking of them made her nervous.
Hermione noticed she had gotten lost in her own mind when she almost jumped at the touch of Fleur's fingers. She smiled at her. The blonde looked at her quizzically.
"I'm just a bit nervous about tomorrow." She whispered, knowing the French witch had felt the jolt of uneasiness she had felt.
Fleur smiled and pulled her close, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head.
"Zey love you already." She whispered back. Hermione could help but smile, remembering she had told a nervous Fleur the exact same thing a few weeks ago.
A/N: Hello my dear readers! It's I, your friendly neighbour Celtic! A bit of Ron being an ass...
Please review, I'm always pleased to learn what you think!
;3
See Yah!
PS: Wk: Thanks!
Sally: As you wish... LOL
pappa: Not the Delacours yet, but I had fun writing both encounters...
PPS: If you feel like sending me requests suggestions or prompts, feel free to reach me by PM or email me: celticdaughterfics (gmail)
PPPS: So, I posted the Drarry oneshot, I'm feeling like writing the Pansmione side of the story, what do you think? Go read the shortstory, leave me a review saying if you want the girls side...
