EDIT: A/N: Sorry, had to repost as I uploaded a version with a few errors in it.
Hermione tried to stay away and give Fleur her space, she really did. The first day after the massage debacle, Hermione focussed on nothing but her classes and study (although she did sneak in some more research on pregnancies and Veela).
She was still having trouble sleeping, unable to get more than a couple of hours' rest at a time. It was beginning to take a toll on her. She felt like she was being fuelled solely by coffee and anxious energy these days.
The second day after seeing Fleur, Hermione was an agitated mess. She sat at Florean's with Ron, bouncing a leg up and down restlessly. Harry was off with a tutor. He'd been holed up at St Mungo's for a week after a nasty Quidditch accident so had to catch up on his studies now that he was out again. Many things had changed since Hogwarts, but Harry's uncanny ability to get injured definitely had not.
"Feeling calmer these days?" Ron asked, noticing Hermione had yet to snap at him.
Hermione smiled gently. She had been biting his head off a lot. It wasn't her fault entirely. Ron was an easy target for anyone who was on edge and cruising for an argument.
"Not really," Hermione replied, "But I've just got to focus on looking after Fleur in her state, no matter how much we might rub each other the wrong way."
"Wonder if that's what she told herself when she looked after you," Ron commented, licking at his ice cream.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Hermione asked. She was a little lost.
"She was the one that nursed you at Shell Cottage after… You know…" Ron and Harry usually avoided referring to her torture at Malfoy Manor. "After Bellatrix."
"She was?" Hermione asked. She was surprised at that revelation.
"You don't remember much from then, do you?" Ron asked, pausing between laps of his ice cream. His hair was in a mess today. That and the ice cream cone gave him a decidedly boyish look.
Hermione shook her head.
She herself avoided thinking of back then. It made her arm sting, almost as if the scar itself remembered.
"Fleur was the one who took after nursing you better," Ron explained, "She fed you, washed you, sat at your bedside. I remember because we were all pretty surprised. You two had never particularly got along before then but man, she was dedicated."
Hermione tried to think of her recovery.
Her mind just conjured up shadowy blurs. A small single bed by a window. The sound of crashing waves in the distance. Nightmares that made her chest feel like it was going to burst, her heart was beating so hard. A hand holding hers tightly as she lay drenched in the cold sweat of her nightmare.
"I was on a lot of painkillers," Hermione said, squinting as she tried to remember better.
"Yeah, for good reason," Ron said darkly, "I… I honestly thought you might die, 'Mione. None of us had any real healing skills. It's a bloody miracle you survived."
Hermione's memory didn't provide much else… The first of her clear memories were from when she awoke, aching and sore, lucid after the painkillers wore off after the worst of it. By then, Harry and Ron were perched at her bedside. In her mind, she had just assumed they had been the ones looking after her and holding her hand through it all.
"Incredible," Hermione commented.
She checked her wristwatch. She figured it was a good enough time as any to visit Fleur. She'd waited two days already. Plus, if she went now, it would be right after lunch so she wouldn't be interrupting a mealtime.
All the readings she had been doing on pregnancy and on Veela told her that Veela would be even more hormonal than the average pregnant woman. Considering Fleur's temper thus far, Hermione didn't want to tempt fate by showing up at an inconvenient time.
She bid goodbye to Ron and walked to Fleur's apartment.
She still couldn't believe Fleur was the one who looked after her at Shell Cottage. Fleur had never brought it up! Although, Hermione supposed they had never exactly talked about it.
Hermione knocked at the door of Fleur's apartment.
No answer.
She knocked again, louder.
Hermione was just about to knock a third time when the door flung open.
"What?!" Fleur growled at Hermione.
Hermione froze, taking in the appearance of the aggravated looking part-Veela.
Her hair was tousled as if she had just woken, despite the afternoon hour. She was wearing a silk gown and the sash had come undone. She was wearing a lacy set of underwear underneath the gown, not dissimilar to what she had been wearing the last time Hermione saw her.
Merlin, that would take Hermione some getting used to. Fleur seemed entirely at ease walking around in her underwear. It reminded Hermione of how unbothered she was by her nudity the morning after their one night stand.
'She really isn't self-conscious, is she?' Hermione thought to herself.
Hermione wondered if she was capable of feeling that comfortable in her own skin. Not likely. She'd always felt awkward about herself at Hogwarts. Then after the war, she was self conscious of her scars. The times she had dated or been intimate with someone, she had always insisted that the lights were off so that their eyes wouldn't linger on her imperfections.
She snapped out of her thinking as Fleur turned on her heel and stormed into her studio apartment, leaving the door wide open. She had apparently got sick of waiting for an explanation from Hermione.
Hermione followed her in, shutting the door carefully behind her.
"Something wrong?" Hermione asked, regretting asking as soon as the words left her mouth.
"Something wrong?!" Fleur echoed angrily, "Look at me!"
She pulled her gown open fully, gesturing at her body.
Hermione gulped as her stomach flipped.
"Erm…" Hermione wasn't sure what to say. Fleur was like Aphrodite herself. She was a slight figure, but toned and curved to perfection. It wasn't helping that Hermione could see through the lacy underwear.
"This!" Fleur said, gesturing more specifically at her toned stomach, "You've ruined my body!"
Hermione laughed without thinking. Fleur still had abs for Merlin's sake. Fleur scowled dangerously.
"Fleur! You're only a month pregnant!" Hermione managed between laughs, "You're barely showing! Honestly, I can't even notice the difference right now."
"Are you serious?!" Fleur hissed, stepping closer to Hermione.
Hermione reminded herself of her reading. Veela were even more hormonal than a human woman during pregnancy. She needed to tread carefully.
"Erm, I mean, what I'm trying to say is that you look great," Hermione backtracked. Fleur's eyes flashed with anger.
"This is your fault," Fleur exclaimed, jabbing Hermione in the chest, "I spent all morning throwing up because of you and now you're saying I always looked like this?!"
"Fleur… It's not my fault you had morning sickness," Hermione said defensively. Fleur gasped in outrage.
"Of course it is! You're the one that got me pregnant!" Fleur raged.
Hermione took a deep breath, trying not to get wound up or baited into an argument. She took her satchel off her shoulder instead, walking over to the dining table to put it down.
"Last I checked it took two people to make a pregnancy," Hermione murmured under her breath, unable to help herself.
"Hermione!" Fleur snapped.
Hermione turned around, already flinching at the rage she was about to incur from the pregnant Veela. To her horror, Fleur burst into tears instead.
"Um… Are you okay?" Hermione asked, not knowing what to do.
"You think I'm repulsive, don't you?" Fleur sobbed.
"N-no! Of course not!" Hermione stammered. She had no idea how to calm the woman down. She wasn't very good with crying.
"Yes you do," Fleur sniffled, "You always look so annoyed with me… And now I don't even have my looks… And I just feel sick all the time! I feel sick right now!"
"Well, Fleur—" Hermione began, trying to put on her best attempt at a comforting voice.
But Fleur pushed past her, rushing into the bathroom and getting onto her knees in front of the toilet. She began to retch.
"Oh! Merlin!" Hermione gasped, hurrying behind the blonde.
She pulled Fleur's long hair back from her face, holding it out of the way. Fleur started to throw up violently.
Hermione dutifully stood behind her, holding her hair back. Every now and again she would pat Fleur on the back in a way she hoped was reassuring. She couldn't help but notice how silky and soft Fleur's platinum blonde hair felt. It actually felt quite nice to have her hands amongst it.
Finally, Fleur finished. She wiped her mouth before flushing the toilet.
Hermione helped her to her feet.
"They call it morning sickness," Fleur groaned, "They don't warn you that it can happen at any time of the day."
"I'm sorry, Fleur," Hermione said gently. She walked into the kitchen and poured Fleur a large glass of water.
Fleur padded behind her quietly. She was more subdued now.
Hermione handed the water to her, looking at her carefully.
Fleur looked so small and vulnerable. Hermione wasn't sure she had ever seen the fiery Veela looking like this before.
"What?" Fleur asked defensively, narrowing her eyes.
"Are you okay, you know, staying here by yourself?" Hermione asked, "What if you fell and hurt yourself? Or choked on something?"
Fleur scoffed, seeming to regain some of her indignant energy.
"I'm pretty sure I know how to stay alive on my own, Hermione," Fleur retorted, sipping at the water.
Hermione dropped the subject, not wanting to agitate the blonde again.
"I didn't know it was you that looked after me at Shell Cottage after Malfoy Manor," Hermione said, changing the conversation.
A number of emotions seemed to flit across Fleur's voice in a split-second before she set her impassive facial expression.
"You never asked," Fleur replied simply, turning around and walking over to her bed. She sat down on the edge of the bed, tucking one of her feet under her.
Hermione bit her lip. She wasn't sure what else to say on the matter. She considered wildly for a moment asking Fleur if it meant that she cared. But that was ridiculous.
"Have you been taking your vitamins and supplements?" Hermione asked instead.
"Oui," Fleur replied neutrally.
Gods, getting a smile out of her was like getting blood out of a stone.
"I need to tell my parents," Fleur informed Hermione.
Hermione felt a sheet of ice run down her back. She had met Apolline Delacour just once, at the Triwizard Tournament. She made Fleur's ice princess routine look like a puppy in comparison. Hermione could already feel the sinking dread at Apolline finding out that Hermione had accidentally got her darling daughter pregnant.
"Do you need to do that already?" Hermione asked, trying to hide the anxiety in her voice, "I mean people generally don't tell other people until past the three-month mark."
"They're my parents," Fleur intoned, looking at Hermione like she was an idiot.
"Don't you think travel is a little risky in your condition?" Hermione tried another tack. Fleur rolled her eyes.
"I'm one month in," Fleur reminded haughtily, "I think I'll be fine for a simple trip to France."
"Right," Hermione said awkwardly.
A silence fell over them for a moment.
"You seem to be walking far easier already," Hermione commented. Fleur nodded primly.
"Oui, I feel much better," Fleur replied.
"Do you need a hand with the anti-inflam—"
"Non," Fleur interrupted quickly, a slight blush at her cheeks, "I'll wait for Bill."
Hermione felt a slight embarrassment rise within her at that.
'Gods, Hermione, try to sound less interested in getting your hands over her,' Hermione thought inwardly.
The truth was, Hermione hadn't been able to get the experience of massaging Fleur out of her mind. The little whimper Fleur had held back as she bit her lip. The soft and toned feeling of Fleur's thigh. It reminded her of the night she had had Fleur's body beneath her.
Hermione swallowed heavily, a heat rising in her stomach.
"W-Well," Hermione managed to croak, before clearing her throat, "Do you need anything?"
"Non," Fleur answered flatly. She was looking annoyed with Hermione again now.
"Oh okay…" Hermione said slowly. She really wasn't making much headway with the blonde today. "Shall I come by again in a couple of days?"
"If you want," Fleur sniffed.
Hermione sighed, going and slinging her satchel on her shoulder. She was heading to the door when she remembered.
"Oh yeah," Hermione paused, fishing something out of her bag, "I got you this."
She placed a couple of small books on the table beside the door.
"Reading helps me calm down during overwhelming situations," Hermione explained to the blank-faced Fleur, "I got you some books on pregnancy."
Fleur didn't reply. Hermione waved at her and left the apartment.
Hermione's head was full of thoughts as she headed back to Grimmauld Place. She couldn't stop thinking about the one-night stand with Fleur or about massaging her thigh. She wasn't a detective, but she was beginning to suspect more and more that she was interested in women.
Hermione was still frowning as she entered Grimmauld Place.
"Hey Hermione," Harry greeted. He was sitting back on one of the couches, fiddling with his broom. It had been scuffed quite badly in his accident and he had been trying his best to bring it back to its usually meticulous state.
Ron was sitting beside him, chiming in with spots that Harry had missed.
"What's up with you?" Ron asked, noticing Hermione's expression.
Hermione sighed and threw herself down into the couch opposite the boys.
"I think I might like girls," Hermione confessed.
The boys continued looking at her blankly.
"Well, yeah," Ron replied, "You slept with Fleur."
"That is some compelling evidence," Harry agreed, nodding at Ron.
Hermione was surprised at how lowkey a reaction the boys had had. It was if she had told them she like vanilla ice cream as well as chocolate ice cream. They couldn't be more relaxed!
"Well, what do I do?" Hermione asked, a little stressed.
Ron shrugged.
"Date some girls?" Ron suggested.
"I don't know how to do that!" Hermione exclaimed. Harry grinned.
"I think you're overthinking this," Harry chuckled, "How about you just try talking to a girl some time? Like, flirting?"
"Flirting?" Hermione echoed, intimidated, "How on Earth do I find a situation where I could do that?"
Ron smiled broadly, sitting up straighter in his seat.
"A party!" Ron grinned.
"Absolutely not!" Hermione insisted, "You know what happened at the last one! Plus, I need to pass my classes more than ever now!"
Harry scoffed.
"As if you're not going to pass your classes!" Harry laughed.
"Plus, nobody is forcing you to drink," Ron persuaded, "You could just sit on soda and pumpkin juice all night. No accidental pregnancies that way, huh?"
Hermione glared at him.