Chapter III
How to Kill a Veela

Life at Hogwarts had for a sixth year was nothing short of eventful. From Aurors protecting the school and Hogsmead, to Snape becoming the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Hermione could tell this year was going to be just as eventful as any other. She feared for the world and what Voldemort was becoming, but she wasn't too sure how to fight him just yet... and thus all she could do is remain in school and attend class as if none of this was happening.

What she wouldn't give to just have one single year of peace and tranquility so she could just focused on her studies and exams.

A piece of toast dangled from Ron's mouth as he shovelled another helping of eggs before his plate had even been finished. The two boys truly ate her weight in food, but both of them had grown so much over the summer it was only normal that they needed so much energy. She noticed herself that her body had definitively grown as well, and while she may not be towering like Ron was, it did develop in a different way. Hermione noticed the other day while looking in the mirror that the person peering back at her wasn't the little girl entering Hogwarts for the first time anymore, but rather, a woman. Her teeth had been shrunken last year and finally she found confidence in letting people see her teeth when she smiled. Her eyes, matured, and hardened by all those years of protecting her friends and learning about this magical world. Curves now graced her body as her chest and hips certainly budded. Even her hair managed to calm down during the years as she's learned to tame it a bit better and take care of it. She did, after all, go to the Yule ball with Victor Krum. Lots of girls had given her a hard time because they had been jealous, but if only they knew that her eyes actually kept hovering to Fleur that night, who herself, had a date. Despite being highly annoyed by the Triwizard Champion, she couldn't help look and appreciate her for her performances in Charms during the tasks. That night, Hermione remembered that Fleur's eyes had actually met hers a couple of times when she thought she'd just go unnoticed. They never held the gaze for very long, because she had felt properly embarrassed for being caught staring. It came as a surprise to her when Parvati Patil told her that Fleur had been sometimes looking at her even when she wasn't.

"Ugh, that Beauxbaton girl." Parvati rolled her eyes. "She wouldn't stop looking at you last night. It was kinda weird."

Hermione perked up. Brows furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean? Which one? Who was looking at me?"

The Gryffindor girl looked at her perplexed, "well aren't you eager to know? I'm talking about that Fleur Delacour. She wouldn't stop looking your way. Maybe she was jealous of you..." She continued, "Being with Krum and all."

"Yeah. I'm surprised he didn't ask her too."

"'Mione!" Harry tapped her on the shoulder, "you coming? We have our first class with Snape for Defense Against the Dark Arts. We'll be late if we stay in the Hall any longer."

The bushy haired girl had immediately gotten up and straightened herself. Time had flown and she had barely even eaten anything but that didn't matter. They couldn't be late to their first class, otherwise Snape would add to the negative points that Harry had already amassed for being late to Hogwarts.

The Trio quickly headed through the doors and down a long corridor, quickly making their way to a class they weren't sure if they should be dreading or not. Thankfully most students had also gone to class and thus the hall wasn't too crowded. Mrs. Norris darted around the corner as they came barrelling through. They could hear Filch's angry mutters as they went.

"You alright 'Mione? You've been in your thoughts an awful lot," Harry asked while they were making their way down their third staircase. Hermione nodded a little too fast to be convincing. The light breakfast didn't help with her current state as she felt faint from their speed walk in these twisting stairs and corridors.

"You reckon Snape will notice if we use your invisibility cloak to sneak in?" Ron asked. That was a smart idea, thought Hermione, except for one thing. They had all outgrown the cloak, and having all three of them hide under it was going to be a challenge.

"How do you expect us all to fit?" asked Harry.

"Well... Hermione, you're great at Charms..." The red headed boy turned to her, sheepish.

"Ron, the Reducio charm could be potentially dangerous if used on humans," she started, but he raised his eyebrow. He knew she'd been practising on herself on top of advancing her studies in charms by attempting to do non-verbally. "Oh fine! Come off it. Don't blame me if I shrink something permanently."

Ron didn't seem as enthusiastic about the idea anymore, nor did Harry, but they always had faith in Hermione's skills and all three of them were not keen on getting detentions this early in the year. Once arrived at the door, Harry pulled out his cloak and surely enough, it was only big enough to cover all three of them up to Harry and Ron's mid thigh. Hermione sighed and fussed over them to stand still. With a flick of her wand, Ron had started shrinking until he was about the same size as Professor Flitwick. He looked at himself in disbelief, "Wow! You did it without saying the charm!" Harry and Hermione had to suppress their laughter. Ron's voice even sounded like someone had given him a heap of helium to inhale. The pitch even reminded her of Professor Flitwick's high strung voice.

Harry was next, and he was quickly shrunken to the same size as Ron. Hermione had even thought about shrinking their robes along with them so they weren't tripping over themselves. His voice wasn't any betters than Ron's, if anything, even higher pitched. The talented witch then finally pointed the wand at herself, and like she's done many times before, shrunken herself to her friends' size. All three of them laughed with their pitchy voices before draping themselves with the invisibility cloak.

"Hermione I swear if you don't get me... I mean all of me back to my normal size I-"

"Don't worry Ron. Madame Pomphrey will see to you getting back everything in order before you get a girlfriend, whenever that may be," she shot back, amused.

The trio discreetly enter the room. Harry pushed the door open slightly. It opened without a creak. Satisfied with this, the three of them shuffled quietly inside, and quickly sat down at the nearest table. Before pulling off the cloak, Hermione swished her wand again, and used the Engorgio charm to restore each one of them back to normal size. First, Ron's ankles appeared beneath the table, then Harry's. Finally, she too had returned back to normal and with one quick swipe, Harry removed the cloak. Snape had their back to them. They had successfully entered the class unnoticed.

Well, almost unnoticed... Hermione couldn't believe it. She just managed to get her out of her head and here she was again, Fleur Delacour, staring right at her. This time, she was standing at the front of the class with Snape, smiling at the three of them that had entered silently. She seemed rather amused by their entrance, but said nothing to Snape, not that she needed to anyway.

Snape was in the middle of explaining what the three, dark portraits on his wall were about when he flicked his wrist with his wand. Behind them, the door slammed shut. All three of them winced.

"That is another five points from Gryffindor!" He snarled, "Each!" Snape sternly turned around at last to glare at the three late students. Ron was already sinking in his seat. "Is this the beginning of a new late trend? You're lucky I'm taking pity on you, Potter, Weasley, and Granger. Gryffindor can already punish you with their disappointment for having put the House in the high negative. It will be a month before you can get all those points back!"

"Not with Slughorn showering Harry in points..." muttered Hermione. Ron looked at her with wide eyes and elbowed her under the table but it was too late. Snape slowly raised an eyebrow. Draco who had been watching in great amusement from his seat was now gleefully grinning from ear to ear. Fleur, however, pursed her lips slightly as if knowing what was to come.

"Granger, how uncharacteristic of you to talk back like that," he motioned towards Harry. "You seem to be taking after someone over here both in tardiness and impertinence." His eyes narrowed into slits. "I take it you'll be volunteering for today's class then?"

The witch gulped. "Y-yes Professor." She stammered slightly. Hermione had been sure he was going to give her detention on Saturday, but if it wasn't that... then whatever Snape had in mind during class must be loads worse. She mentally yelled at herself for quipping back at the professor. The irritability stemming from her lack of sleep and empty stomach had gotten her into trouble.

"Now before I was so rudely interrupted," the dark, greasy haired teacher turned back to the portraits being displayed at the front of the class. His monotone voice drawling, "these are the faces of those who have been tortured by the Cruciatus curse-" the first portrait showed a woman who was no doubt being inflicted severe pain, "Imperius curse-" second portrait featured another wizard who seemed completely void of any emotion or presence in his eyes, "and last but not least," Snape stood by the last portrait of a man who was slumped on the floor, eyes completely glassy, "the Killing curse."

"I have been made aware that most of you have already undergone Imperius in your fourth year," he eyed Harry, "But today, I will show you that there are other ways an Imperius curse can be inflicted."

Fleur who had been silent until now, stepped forward. Most of the boys in the front row seats all leaned forward, as if trying to get closer to her. This disgusted Hermione to no end, but she couldn't help but feel a tug of guilt for somewhat acting a bit like them.

"Fleur Delacour as you might already know her from the Triwizard Tournament, has graciously offered to teach the class about the Veela thrall," Snape rested a hand on the shoulders of a boy in the front row who was almost standing and looking ready to leap at the quarter Veela. He sharply pushed him back into his seat, earning laughter from Draco and his cronies. But Draco himself stared at Fleur in a way Hermione did not like one bit. "She is also generously allowing us to practice spells against Veela on her, to show you what it is like when faced with the dangerous creature."

"I thought Veela were on our side?" Seamus Finnigan said. "Me mum told me that Veela are friendly and do not kill unless necessary?"

This time is was Fleur who spoke. Her voice seemed to soothe everyone in the class. "As some of you may suspect," her blue piercing eyes fleetingly crossed Hermione's, "Voldemort has recruited Veela among his ranks."

There was an audible gasp in the classroom. On top of hearing the name that must not be named, students were becoming anxious at the news. They started to talk among themselves hurriedly. Harry's eyes widened and he looked visibly paler. Ron just had his eyes stuck to the Auror. It wasn't until Snape yelled for everyone to quiet down that the students finally had their full attention to the Professor and quarter Veela again. Even the boy who nearly leapt at Fleur's feet seemed to have snapped out of his stupor.

"The Dark Lord has indeed gathered more Magical Creatures within his army, but we are here to prepare ourselves in the event that you might have to come across a Veela. Unfortunately there is not much to find in textbooks. The wizarding world has never faced against such a threat before," Snape turned to Fleur who continued.

"Our kind is not to be taken lightly," the Auror walked down the aisle of desks and clearly, students she passed felt the effect of her thrall. Even the girls shook their heads in disbelief as she passed them much to Hermione's relief. "Men and women react differently. Women have a tendency to be a bit more resilient when it comes to resisting the charm unless they have preferences. Same for men," she stopped by Hermione who avoided her gaze at all cost.

The thrall that emanated from the quarter Veela felt loads more powerful than any other time she came across Fleur. Could she have trained her Veela skills and controlled when to use her charm? It didn't matter, Hermione was internally panicking. She wasn't out to the school, and this would definitively throw her out of her comfortable closet. Perhaps the Auror knew or sensed this, because while she stared at Hermione, she instead, put her hand on Ron's shoulder and whispered in his ear. The boy's face flushed a deep shade of purple but his eyes were empty and obedient. Without hesitation, Ron got up from his seat, stepped onto the table all three of them sat at, and started doing his best impersonation of what looked like a monkey. Fleur then asked Ron to get down, which he promptly jumped off the table, before looking at her once more. The Auror motioned her head towards Draco, "how about a dance partner Ronald? I'd love to see you dance with Draco."

The Slytherin table that was once erupting in loud laughter over Ron's monkeying now fell silent. Draco's face drained of blood. He stared at Fleur, indignant, "I do not want to dance with a Weasley!" He yelled. But it was too late, Ron had already bee-lined his way to the Slytherin boy and picked him up with his long arms. Ron must either have been much stronger than Draco, or this thrall was giving him incredible strength, because the blonde boy couldn't escape his grasp no matter how much he tried to break free which earned Ron a few punches to the face.

The pair waltzed across the aisle. It was now Gryffindor's turn to laugh at this ridiculous display. Fleur was probably enjoying this too much, thought Hermione. But the hold Fleur had over Ron immediately stopped as the red headed boy was in mid dance dip with Malfoy. Ron dropped Draco who fell unceremoniously to the floor.

"Oww," the Weasley boy held his face where Malfoy had punched him, "Oi what happened?"

Fleur approached Ron and flicked her wand at the bruises that had started to form. Instantly, they vanished and he gingerly walked back to his seat where Harry filled him in with what he was made to do.

"You'll pay for this Weasley!" Draco also returned to his seat, while glaring daggers at Fleur who merely smiled back at him.

"I'm not paying anything for this horrible date," joked Ron, earning another roar of laughter from the Gryffindors.

Snape silenced the class once again and turned to Hermione who he beckoned to the front of the class. The witch felt her mouth and throat go dry. She stiffly stood up from her chair and quickly made her way across.

The blonde quarter Veela caught Hermione's hand as she walked up to the front of the class and pulled her close. Taken by surprise, the younger witch stiffened as she felt their bodies press against each other. Fleur started leading her in a waltz. Taken by surprise, the brunette felt herself melt into the dance being led by the Auror, as she stared into those piercing blue eyes. Her mind started fogging up and she couldn't focus on her motor skills at all. It felt like there was absolutely nothing to worry about, not this class, not Snape, and not even Voldemort. Before she knew it, both of them had reached the front, still entwined together. Hermione must've looked head over heels for Fleur as she could hear Slytherin passing loud and rude remarks about lesbians. At the moment, though, she didn't care at all.

That's when Fleur leaned in close. She whispered in her ear, "thank you for this wonderful dance, 'Ermione." Her voice was as sultry as ever specially the way she uttered Hermione's name with that French lilt. "I believe you may be the only one with the knowledge to kill a Veela. How about you try that on me?"

It was true, Hermione had read Gilderoy's book after Fleur left the Library that day. There was a spell that was the equivalent of the Cruciatus for Veela, but it specifically stopped any kind of thrall, or powers Veela could command on a person. It completely disabled all of a Veela's power. A Cruciatus curse would torture any creature, sure, but Veela's still had the ability to overpower anyone with their thrall even in a Cruciatus hold. If exposed to this anti-thrall Cruciatus spell long enough, a Veela would succumb to the excruciating pain, and mental consequences. She would die.

Hermione's mind had previously felt like it was swimming in pure euphoria, but Fleur's command to inflict pain on the Auror herself came as such a shock to her that she broke away from their embrace. She gasped, being able to break free from the thrall, to Fleur's surprise. Blue eyes widened in amazement, but something else that Hermione couldn't read at the time twinkled in her eyes as the Auror smiled widely.

"Well." After a moment's pause, Fleur, a little breathless, now addressed the class, "as expected from such an intelligent student. 'Ermione was able to break from my thrall, even in a waltz. Our thralls are much stronger when caught in an everlasting dance." She then looked at Snape who nodded.

Snape pointed Fleur with his wand, "for the purpose of this class, and to demonstrate how to defeat a dangerous Creature," he said, before flicking his wand and chanting the word, "Aegritudo!"

Hermione opened her mouth, wanting to stop him from casting what she felt should be also an unforgivable curse, but all she could do was watch as Fleur succumbed to the floor. The young witch's head spun as she recalled her similar nightmares of watching Fleur falling to the same spell.

AN: Again, I gotta thank you all for such amazing support. I read every single review and it truly brings a smile to my face. I know a lot of you are eager to hear about Fleur's perspective and your patience will be rewarded next chapter. Seeing you all try and guess what Fleur could be alluding to or just being curious really makes my day.

I think my goal with this fanfic is to keep it within a balance between humor, adventure, maaagic, and drama. What drawn me so much to the Harry Potter books was the world that was created, and the subsequent drama and consequences that it birthed.

I'm re-reading book six at the moment and some things will be parallel to the book while others not. After all, this is Fleur and Hermione's story. Not Harry's. That said, I still want to incorporate the world of Harry Potter in this fanfiction, otherwise it wouldn't feel like you're immersed in that world.