It was strange for Hermione to see the Order members in a drinking and recreational setting. Lupin looked more rested than he had in years, chatting to Tonks in one corner. Ginny was trapped in a conversation with Moody and Ron and Harry were pouring a drink for Shacklebolt, who was patiently listening to Ron's gossip on the Quidditch World Cup.

Hermione was sitting across from Tonks, who had Lupin on one side and Fleur on the other. Fleur for her part, was giving Hermione a frosty response, who was sitting with Blaise. Hermione decided to ignore her, instead focussing on letting loose for once, at the encouragement of Blaise.

As the night progressed, the older Order members thinned out, until there were only the younger ones remaining, many drinks deep.

Fred and George were drunk and as such, extra pranky, with Neville as their oblivious victim for the night. He was entirely unaware that at some point the gum they had been plying him with had turned him into a cyclops, with his two eyes merging into one in the centre of his forehead.

As Fleur was getting drunker, she seemed less able to hide her reactions, glaring openly across the table at Hermione and Blaise.

"So when're we gonna talk about the projects on?" Blaise said with a stretch, leaning back to put an arm around Hermione's shoulder. Ginny winked at Hermione from the other end of the table.

"I don't think its that kind of night, sorry," Hermione explained, noting Fleur's annoyance at Blaise's gesture.

"Really? When do you think the next meeting will be then?" Blaise pressed, leaning closer to Hermione. But Hermione found herself ignoring him as she saw Fleur move to sit on Tonks' lap. Hermione gritted her teeth.

"Er, dunno, maybe ask McGonagall?" Hermione said, wrenching her eyes away from Fleur to look at Blaise again.

"She's not here, though," Blaise said impatiently, "Do you think Harry would know?"

Hermione, still distracted, was confused as to his impatience, "Blaise, you've only just joined. It took us ages before we were let in on meetings."

Blaise looked a little annoyed before flashing one of his easy grins and squeezing Hermione's shoulder.

"You're right, 'Mione," he said kissing her on the cheek.

Across the table, Fleur who was watching them, turned to Tonks, grabbing her roughly behind the neck and kissing her deeply.

"Blimey!" uttered Ron, turning purple. Hermione's jaw fell open.

"Woah," Blaise commented in surprise.

Fleur finally pulled back, smirking at Hermione's open mouthed stare. Tonks looked completely flabbergasted.

"Erm… uh… I'm not gonna lie… that was pretty mind blowing… But what the heck, Fleur?" Tonks said, sounding a little flustered.

Hermione gritted her teeth, slamming her drink down on the table so hard people jumped.

Hermione looked across the table at Fleur, who was still on Tonks' lap and playing with her hair, flustering a still reluctant Tonks. She exhaled heavily, excusing herself to Blaise and leaving the room.

In the cold, dimly lit hallway outside she leaned against a wall, enjoying the coolness.

"Fuck," she murmured quietly.

The door opened and Tonks pulled Fleur out into the hallway.

"Come to rub it into my face some more?" Hermione said darkly.

"No," Tonks said firmly, "I'm here to force you two to talk. This has gone on long enough."

Fleur folded her arms, clearly not wanting to be the first to talk. Hermione mirrored her. Tonks sighed heavily.

"Fleur, maybe you can start with explaining why you kissed me just now?" she said slowly.

Fleur shrugged, "I wanted to."

"Do I need to get the veritaserum out?" Tonks threatened.

"Ugh, fine, I was jealous," Fleur admitted.

"And why did you react like that right after, Hermione?" Tonks pressed. Hermione sighed.

"I was jealous, too."

"And why were you jealous, Fleur?" Tonks asked, turning to the blonde. Fleur opened her mouth and then closed it again, still reluctant to say anything on the subject. Tonks sighed.

"Hermione, why were you jealous?" Tonks tried instead. Hermione thought for a moment, then seizing every scrap of Gryffindor challenge, took the leap.

"Because I have feelings for Fleur."

A small smile began to grow on Fleur's face. Tonks looked at the blonde.

"And you Fleur?" Tonks pressed.

"I have feelings for Hermione," Fleur answered. Hermione felt a smile break out on her face.

"Fucking finally," Tonks remarked as the two girls embraced and kissed.

"You're going to stop going on dates with that Zabini boy?" Fleur asked, drawing away.

"Yes, most definitely," Hermione said with a grin.

Things definitely weren't fine between them by a long shot, but it was a huge step. Hermione tightened her grip around Fleur's waist.

"Shall I tell them you've retired for the night?" Tonks said with a grin.

"Oui," Fleur said, grinning at Hermione.

"Alright, just remember you don't have to put up a silencing charm if you don't want to," Tonks said with a wink, earning another swat on the arm from Fleur.

Tonks had barely turned her back to the pair when they apparated back to Grimmauld Place immediately. Fleur pulled Hermione up the stairs and into the bedroom, shutting the door quickly behind them and kicking off her heels. She moved back to Hermione and began kissing the younger girl's neck and pulling her clothes off.

"Hold on, Fleur," Hermione said, causing the blonde to pause and look at her curiously.

"What is it, Hermione?" Fleur said curiously. This was a change.

"I, erm, I didn't hurt your feelings with those dates with Blaise, did I?" Hermione said awkwardly.

"As if you could hurt my feelings," Fleur said with a smirk. Hermione didn't reply and Fleur's smirk fell, "But if I'm honest it did bother me."

"I'm sorry, Fleur. No more dates with him." Hermione said quietly.

"And I wont kiss Tonks anymore," Fleur added with another smirk.

Fleur turned around and began to walk away. Hermione reached out, looping her arms around Fleur's waist and pulling her into her, embracing her from behind.

"I do like you, Fleur, as much as I hate to admit it," Hermione said softly with a smirk.

"I like you too, Hermione," Fleur said with a smile in her voice. She leaned back into Hermione. Without her heels on, Fleur was no longer taller than Hermione, and was actually slightly shorter. Hermione didn't complain though, she actually quite liked feeling like the protective one for once.

"So what does this mean? Now that we've both admitted we have feelings for each other? Now we've said we won't be with other people?" Hermione asked, tightening her grip on Fleur.

"I suppose it means we are giving it a go?" Fleur murmured, and Hermione was entirely surprised to find that the thought of giving things a go with Fleur filled her with a warm feeling.


The next morning, they awoke without awkwardness in each others arms.

Hermione kissed Fleur's cheek, earning a smile from the blonde.

"Who'd have thought a morning kiss from Hermione Granger would bring me joy?" she mused, earning a pout from Hermione.

"When're we going to tell the others?" Hermione asked, suddenly thinking of Ginny's reaction when she had thought Fleur was nothing more than a drunk kiss. She cringed.

"Ah… I don't know, soon I suppose," Fleur answered, playing with Hermione's curls.

"Tonight? Erm, I mean if that's okay with you." Hermione suggested. Now that they had finally got over the hurdle of admitting their feelings, Hermione was eager to get rid of all other hurdles in her way.

She supposed those hurdles also included telling Blaise there would be more dates. She wasn't that worried, Blaise was an easy-going guy who had been very understanding of her reluctance to take their dating further than casual outings and the odd peck on the lips. Not that she would tell Fleur that, she had avoided the topic of Blaise for fear of causing another argument so soon.


In at the office, Blaise was in fact very understanding when Hermione told him their dates would be coming to an end.

"Oh that's fine, Hermione, honestly," Blaise said good naturedly, and Hermione felt herself relax. She knew he would be fine about it, he was a good guy.

"Yeah, its just I—" Hermione began.

"So when do you think the next Order meeting will be?" Blaise interrupted, "Do you think it'll be at the safe-house you guys stay at? You still haven't told me where that is by the way,"

"We can't all live at Danish Lane in a swanky house," Hermione joked. Hermione had discovered his wealth when caught him leaving via Floo from work, noting he had called out an address at the end of the famously wealthy street. She often teased Blaise about his incredible wealth, but today he didn't smile, he just seemed irritated.

Hermione was surprised by his abrupt change in demeanour but was snapped out of her thoughts by their supervisor arriving with a big grin on his face.

"So here are your first ever assignments, juniors!" he said with a congratulatory tone, handing out papers to Harry, Hermione, Blaise and the other member of the fast-tracked programme.

"Yes!" Harry said with a fist pump, "I'll be out in the field by Thursday!"

"Ah, damn, I'm not out til next week," Blaise said with disappointment in his voice.

"Me neither," Hermione said, looking at her own briefing. As soon as the supervisor left Blaise turned to Harry and Hermione with a big grin.

"But, I do have my first field work for the Order today," he said confidentially, "Undercover, collecting intel."

"Aw man!" Harry groaned, "Hermione, Ron and I haven't even got to have field work yet!"

"Guess that's the benefit of being a little more under the radar than the Golden Trio," Blaise chuckled, "Anyway, I'd better high tail it now or I'll be late!"

With that he strode out of the room, leaving Harry and Hermione to get back to their desk jobs.

Hermione had been scratching away at some paperwork for some time when she was greeted by Ginny.

"Wow, Ginny in the office? I thought you avoided paperwork," Hermione teased. Ginny pouted.

"Yeah, well, Blaise took my place on the field mission with Fleur and Tonks today. Apparently I'm too recognisable as a Weasley." Ginny said, rolling her eyes. Hermione laughed.

"So, Gin, I have some news I'm going to announce tonight, come round for dinner with us tonight, yeah?" Hermione asked, turning back to scribbling notes to avoid Ginny's facial expression.

"Hmn, sure, I hope its nothing bad," Ginny said idly, tapping a foot on the ground. Hermione cringed and pushed too hard on her quill, snapping it.

"Godammit," she groaned, leaning back in her chair, "Nevermind I suppose, Blaise has heaps."

She got up and stepped past Ginny to go to Blaise's desk, picking through some of his belongings before pulling open a drawer. As she pulled out a handful of quills, a scrunched piece of paper fell on the floor. Hermione picked it up, planning on hastily putting it back in the desk when she recognised the neat looping handwriting. It was Fleur's.

Holding her breath, Hermione put down the quills and unscrunched the paper, discovering it was a page from Fleur's field notes. Curious, she had thought it looked like a page was missing from the stack of Fleur and Tonks' notes that Tonks had delivered to her the other day. She quirked an eyebrow, wondering why on earth Blaise would have it in his desk. It appeared to merely be minutes recording tailing a small group of younger Death Eaters. Hermione smoothed out the bottom of the page, reading the final sentence.

"Danish Lane…" she said slowly, as a feeling of pure horror began to seep through her body.

"Yeah, Tonks said something about that being where they've followed a bunch of Death Eaters to lately. Think it's a possible meeting house for 'em at the end there. Why's that?"

"The end?" Hermione said slowly, her hands starting to shake as she held the paper.

"Yeah, house right at the end or something. Flash house, too. Makes you annoyed we ended up with the shack at Grimmauld Place, huh."

"Ginny… Where did Blaise go with Fleur and Tonks today?" Hermione said, her voice becoming shrill. Harry got up from his desk, coming to join them and looking curious.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, concerned.

"The house… the house the Death Eaters have been meeting… Its Blaise's house." Hermione said, her voice shaking.