Hello everyone,
Another week begins and it does with the next chapter of this story. It's a bit shorter than the last one, sorry about that.
I'll be in London for a wedding this week and will only come back very late on Sunday. However, do not worry, I have already uploaded the next chapter as well and no matter how late it will be on Sunday, I will be able to press the publish button. I promise, I'll manage it, even if it is Monday morning :)
I admit, I like how controversial the ending of the last chapter was perceived. There were some intriguing arguments but I have decided that I'm not going to give you a lengthy explanation of how I see Fleur's personality to explain her actions. When you read a book, the story becomes what you make of it; it becomes yours.
A lot of you sent me PMs in fear that Fleur might be pregnant. Relax, I am currently working on Chapter 19 and she's still not pregnant and it doesn't look like she'll be for a while, if ever.
Alright, that's it with the announcements. Enjoy your chapter and please keep up your reviews, they always make my day.
Chapter Five
The next few days, Fleur kept to herself, avoiding especially Bill and Hermione. Not that she had to; Bill was in his shed all day or with the Order and Hermione was scheming something with Ron, Harry and the Goblin. They shut themselves in all day and only came out for meals and sleep. It had become a routine.
Until one day, Hermione emerged from the situation room to seek out Fleur specifically.
She finally found her sitting outside in the grass surrounded by books on potions and healing.
Hermione crouched down next to the French witch and picked up a book at random. The Pocket Guide to Dark Arts Healing.
Hermione arched an eyebrow before putting the book back, 'Fleur, I need your help with something. But I need you to keep quiet about it. The fewer people know, the better.'
Fleur stopped what she was doing and got up, 'Then, we shouldn't talk 'ere. Let's go where fewer ears will listen.'
For an instant, Hermione was unsure about being alone with Fleur. The memory of what had almost happened some days ago, was still vivid in her mind. And it infuriated her to no end, that she wasn't able to just shut down her feelings. But she knew it was the safest place to talk and started walking.
They had barely arrived when Fleur asked about the secret she needed help with.
'I need to brew Polyjuice Potion. I know how to do it and I was thinking of brewing it in a corner of my room, putting a concealment charm on it, to make sure. What I need help with are the ingredients. Do you think you have what I need?' Hermione asked.
'I definitely 'ave most of it. I'm not sure about the Lacewing flies but I might know a way around that,' Fleur answered, wondering what exactly those three were planning to do.
'What do you mean?' Hermione was puzzled. Polyjuice Potion was a very complicated potion and required precision most of all. Hermione had learned that lesson the hard way in her second year of school.
'Mme. Bienmélange, the potions teacher at Beauxbatons, was always adamant about knowing 'ow to substitute ingredients for others. She always said, that one day there'd be a situation where you would want to brew a cure for boils just when you 'ad run out of snake fangs. Lacewing flies can be substituted with dried nettles and bat spleens. But only in Polyjuice Potion!' Fleur explained and Hermione listened intently.
'So you can help me?' Hermione asked for confirmation.
'Yes. I'll get a cauldron and everything else to your room without anyone noticing,' Fleur conspired.
Fleur was turning around to go back to her books, when Hermione stopped her motion with her hand of Fleur's arm.
Hermione studied the ground, kicking the grass with the tip of her shoe. She knew that as soon as she would ask her second favour Fleur would know what they were up to. Or at least enough to know she didn't like it.
'There is something else,' Fleur stated.
Hermione nodded and bit her lip. If Fleur refused to help them, they'd have to come up with another plan and coming up with this one had already been hard enough. Fleur caught herself fixating on Hermione biting her lip. If she kept on doing that for much longer, Fleur would immediately say yes to anything Hermione wanted.
'Yes, there is something else. I need a dress and shoes,' Hermione probed but then decided to just get it all out at once, 'It needs to be a bit lacy, a corset wouldn't hurt. I assume everything else I can transfigure. It needs to be a dress that you won't mind not getting back. And the shoes should probably have a bit of a heel, not too high though and laces. Best would be lace up boots.'
Fleur's eyes narrowed as she processed what Hermione wanted.
'What will you do with the dress? What are the modifications you are going to make?' Fleur asked, hoping against hope that she was wrong about her suspicion.
Hermione could feel Fleur was catching up. She took a deep breath before speaking.
'I'm going to rip it a bit here and there, I'll probably add a few adornments or take some off, depends on the dress. It has to look like a once classy now dishevelled gown.'
'And you're going to dye it black,' Fleur stated. She didn't have to but Hermione nodded anyway.
'Est-ce que tu es complètement fou? C'est pas vrai! Tu es en plein délire! Je n'en reviens pas,' Fleur went off and threw up her arms in exasperation.
Hermione remained silent, looking at the French witch raving on in her native tongue. She noticed too late that a faint smile had spread across her face because secretly she loved it when Fleur spoke French. Possibly, because she usually only did it when she was emotional and emotional Fleur was extremely intriguing. But there was no time to go about such matters.
'Why are you smiling? What is there to smile about?' Fleur barked at Hermione.
Hermione flinched and was thankful that Fleur didn't wait for an answer but rambled on about Hermione being completely crazy.
'Fleur,' Hermione said carefully. She didn't want to agitate the blonde witch any further, but she needed to have her answer.
Fleur didn't hear her, though, or chose to ignore her, so she repeated herself a little bit louder, this time.
Instantly, Fleur stopped her rant to look at Hermione in the most peculiar way. Hermione couldn't guess what was going on with her. It was as if in Fleur's eyes there was a storm, jumbling up all sorts of feelings.
'Do you even know what you're asking of me?' she asked, forcibly calming down her voice.
'Yes, I do. I know. It's not easy for me either, but I've tried and I can't come up with a better plan for what we have to do,' Hermione said apologetically.
'Dammit, 'ermione! You're going to impersonate Bellatrix Lestrange! You're going to become 'er!' Fleur full on shouted now. Hermione was happy for her decision to walk away from the preying ears and all.
Fleur just couldn't believe that this was Hermione's plan. They had spent all this time talking with the goblin and could only come up with this idiocy. What the hell where they planning on doing? And then it hit her like a ton of bricks.
'Merlin, you're going to break into Gringotts,' Fleur said breathlessly.
Hermione was shocked that Fleur had figured it out so fast. She had forgotten to factor in Griphook.
She took a deep breath and confessed, 'Yes, we're going to break into Gringotts. Yes, I know how dangerous it is and yes, I know how unlikely it is that we'll manage to do what we need to do and get away unscathed. But there is no other way. We need to get into Bellatrix' vault or he will live.'
Fleur shook her head. She just couldn't wrap her head around what Hermione was planning to do. Did she not know that it was impossible to break into Gringotts, much less to get out again without anyone noticing? Did she not know that she was running into a death trap? Did she not care that she might die? Desperation was clawing at Fleur. She found it increasingly harder to keep herself under control. The déjà-vu of losing Hermione on this very same beach didn't help either.
'I 'ave spent sleepless nights worrying about you. I 'ave nursed you back to 'ealth. I 'ave grown to care so much about you in such a short time. And now you go and get yourself killed on purpose?' Fleur spoke, baffled by the fact. She refused to entertain the idea that she had put in all this effort, lost her heart in the process of it, only to have it broken so soon. There was no reason to deny it. All the signs were there and even if she chose to ignore them, it wouldn't change the fact that she had fallen for the witch looking at her expectantly. Merlin, why was life never easy?
Hermione took a step closer and put her hand on Fleur's arm to pull her from the internal debate she obviously had going on. She realised that this was the first skin to skin contact that they'd had in days and she had to concentrate very hard not to close her eyes to savour the moment. She could not give in to this foolish crush. She was about to get herself killed, and if she somehow survived, she would walk into the next battle and the next and the next one after that for who knew how long. It was definitely not the right time to fall in love with anyone.
'Look, we need to do this and we're going to, one way or another. You can either help us or not, but we will leave as soon as the Polyjuice is ready. We've lost a lot of time already. Believe me, this is not something I do lightly. I know the risks and the odds and don't like either. But I will help stop You-Know-Who or die trying, I can't just sit back and watch. Harry needs me and you know it,' Hermione pleaded.
Fleur sighed and nodded. It was useless to pretend that she wasn't going to help them. In the end she knew that whatever Hermione wanted, she would try and get her.
'Come on, let's look at my dresses and see what we can transfigure,' Fleur said and turned to walk back.
Again, Hermione stopped her and spun her back around. Fleur wondered what else she might need, when Hermione simply kissed her cheek.
'Thank you,' she heard the young witch whisper.
Hermione walked back to the house, while Fleur still had her hand on her cheek where a few moments ago, Hermione's lips had been. Her mind was running a mile a minute. If a simple kiss on the cheek made her feel like this, what would a real kiss do? Fleur decided that there was no gain in thinking about that and followed Hermione to help her prepare for certain doom.
Back at the cottage both witches were looking through Fleur's wardrobe. But as it turned out, Fleur tended to wear unfrilly, elegant dresses that didn't want to distract from the woman they enwrapped.
They kept looking and the longer they were taking, the harder it was for Hermione to keep her mind from imagining Fleur in all these dresses, or without them. It eluded her how she had been able to shut down the most traumatic memories with pure willpower but wasn't able to keep her fantasies at bay.
Suddenly, Fleur hit herself in the head with the palm of her hand, 'Ah, I know! Why 'aven't I thought of this before? Wait 'ere,' she commanded.
Hermione did as she was told and patiently waited for Fleur to return, taking deep, calming breaths.
A few minutes later, she saw the French witch entering the room, carrying a beautiful white dress.
'No, Fleur. NO,' Hermione protested when she saw which particular dress it was. She took a few steps back when Fleur approached, as if she was a physical threat.
'It's perfect, Hermione. We can just remove this part here and cut it up a bit there and we'll fuse it with something long sleeved and dye it black,' Fleur said while putting the dress on her bed.
'I am not wearing your bloody wedding dress!' Hermione continued her protest. 'No, Fleur..err...Delacour. I refuse,'
'Isabelle. Fleur Isabelle Delacour.' Fleur volunteered helpfully but only got a scathing look in return.
'Don't be silly. I won't ever wear it again and the moths will eat it. This way it could contribute to the defeat of You-Know-Who. I'd really prefer the second option,' Fleur explained her side of the argument.
'It's your wedding dress!' Hermione iterated.
'You don't say,' Fleur commented dryly, amused by how adamant Hermione was about the whole affair. 'come on, try it on and we'll see what we 'ave to alter.'
'Fleur, please…' Hermione pleaded and Fleur immediately imagined Hermione using this pleading tone and those exact words in a completely different situation. Hermione never noticed the blush. The thought of ruining the dress that Fleur had looked so stunning in didn't sit well with her. If she survived this, the memory of Fleur in that dress would forever be tainted.
'Do you want to win this war or not? Now get going and try it on. I'll grab a cauldron and the ingredients we talked about and put them in your room,' Fleur said and was gone, leaving Hermione only herself to argue with.
A few minutes later, Fleur had delivered everything to Hermione's room without being seen by anyone other than Harry, who had just nodded a silent thanks for her help. When she opened the door to her own bedroom, she couldn't believe her eyes. Hermione was wearing the dress and she looked stunning. She couldn't take her eyes off her. Fleur overtly stared at Hermione's figure and her mind immediately went to places more fitting for a wedding night than the defiling of a wedding dress.
Hermione had noticed the door opening but stayed turned towards the mirror, with her back towards Fleur. She assumed she would come zip her up. But all she saw in the mirror was Fleur, mouth agape, rooted to the spot and very obviously checking her out. Hermione blushed, but also felt a wonderful warmth spreading in her belly. It felt good to know that someone found her attractive. She ignored that it felt even better because that someone was Fleur. She felt desirable and wanted to enjoy it. Who knew how often she would still have the opportunity.
After another moment, Fleur noticed Hermione smiling at her in the mirror and immediately the tips of her ears turned fire red. She couldn't quite get over the embarrassment of being caught doing exactly what men did when they felt her thrall. The very thing she despised in them.
She stepped into the room and closed the door to keep out curious people. Fleur's hands were ice cold now. Was it really a wise idea to be in a closed room with only Hermione for company?
'Will you zip me up, please?' Hermione asked and wondered how she thought to live through Fleur being so close without giving in to her urges.
Fleur kept telling herself that she was a Delacour and that Delacours didn't get nervous or fluttery stomachs, but to no avail. She tried to convince herself that there was no reason to be impressed by Hermione's looks. After all, she had seen her naked before, but she immediately cancelled that particular train of thought.
With one of her very shaky hands Fleur took the zipper and she put the other one on Hermione's bare shoulder.
Surprised by how cold Fleur's hands were, Hermione gasped.
Instantly, Fleur lifted it back up and practically fell over herself to apologise. Hermione assured her everything was fine and there was no need to apologise. Both witches were clearly nervous but neither had the nerves to admit it.
When she was done, Fleur forced herself to look at Hermione's face, not her body.
Hermione didn't understand the effect she had on this beautiful woman in front of her, but she had to admit it didn't leave her cold. She liked it. A woman like Fleur, with impeccable taste, thought that she, plain old Hermione, was attractive. She took another step towards Fleur and realised her mistake. This wasn't helpful if she wanted to keep a level head. There was no way that she would give into her instincts. Not now, not ever. Fleur is very straight. She is very married, too. Hermione invoked the well known image of Dumbledore in his trunks. That did the trick.
'Fleur, we need to alter the dress,' she said and Fleur looked almost relieved when she pulled out her wand.
The easiest part was to dye the dress black. It took nearly all afternoon to transfigure the rest of the dress. In the end, both of them were content with the result. They had completely outdone themselves. There was no way anyone would guess which dress this had been in a previous life.
'I think we're done here. This looks frighteningly similar to something Lestrange would wear,' Hermione stated.
'I have just the right shoes. I bought them for Halloween two years ago,' Fleur announced, presenting a pair of black lace-up boots. Hermione nodded. They compared shoe sizes and realised they wouldn't even have to alter anything.
'So,…' Fleur said.
'Well,…' Hermione answered. It couldn't have been more awkward.
'Thank you,' Hermione remembered her manners and Fleur felt almost dejected when she didn't get a kiss on the cheek this time.
Before any more awkwardness could spread through the room, Hermione's stomach grumbled. This was Fleur's cue to get started on dinner and leave Hermione to change. Neither of them quite knew what to do with this confusing mixture of relief and disappointment.
On her way down Fleur bumped into Bill.
'Are you ok? I came to ask what you two were doing in that room all afternoon,' Bill said with a laugh.
Fleur's thoughts betrayed her and she immediately imagined not what they had been doing, but what they could've been doing. Fleur's ears turned red again and she mumbled a short excuse about girl things and dinner.
Bill was flummoxed, especially when he saw Hermione hurry across the hallway to her room. It was obvious she had dressed hastily, and she was carrying something invisible. Concealment charm. Something was going on under his roof, that he didn't know about and he wasn't sure he liked it.
French translations:
Are you completely crazy? This can't be true! You are mad! I can't believe this!