I know you all hate me by now, but I have a veeeery good excuse for my late update. I had a rough school + work combination period, which now ended a while ago. And also my creativity has been below zero for quite some time. I really tried to update this faster, and I wrote something on the paper occasionally, trying to revive my creativity but with really bad results. I also got a new computer couple days ago, which has now speeded the process, and hopefully will inspire me to write more chapters in the near future. Faster than this update has taken anyway. A lot faster.

But I hope you enjoy this, eh, rather long but quite pointless chapter.

AND the disclaimer I forget every time. I DO NOT OWN THESE CHARACTERS. Point taken, yes/no? These characters belong to J.K. Rowling (and my paperback book of HBP says they now also belong to the Warner Bros. but my respects are channelled mainly towards the creator of the HP world.)

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The next morning Fleur woke up to meet the hazel eyes staring at her. She watched as the hazel-eyed girl's subtle smile changed to a wide grin. As the flashbacks from last night started to pour into Fleur's mind, she found herself smiling widely too.

"Good morning, 'Ermione," Fleur said softly.

"Good morning, it's about time you woke up too."

"'ow long 'ave you been awake zen?"

"For about an hour, but it's only 8 in the morning. I should probably go back to the dorms before they start to spread weird rumours about me and Viktor," Hermione was thinking out loud.

"Viktor? Ze Durmstrang boy?"

"Yeah. We went to the Ball together last night, remember?"

"Ah, true, pardon. I forgot," Fleur answered frowning.

"But we'll meet later, right? I haven't given you a Christmas present yet," Hermione said, watching the effect of her words showing on Fleur's face.

"Oui, 'ow about after lunch? We would 'ave ze whole day, non?" Fleur's smile widened.

How about if we skip the lunch and meet after breakfast?"

"Even better."

After a while of snuggling, Fleur watched as Hermione dressed herself up and disappeared under the cloak. The door was opened and closed. A happy sigh escaped Fleur's lips when she turned around to lie on her back, staring at the ceiling.

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At breakfast Fleur chose a convenient spot so that she had a clear view to the Gryffindor table, and give occasional glance in Hermione's direction. But what she couldn't avoid was the crowd of Ravenclaw girls that gathered around her, inconveniently blocking the view.

"So how was it?" one of the girls asked excitedly. Fleur was perplexed.

"Excuse moi? 'ow was what?"

"Well, the evening with Roger Davies, of course."

"Oh, zat boy. 'e was overly enthusiastic. I prefer more calm and tactful kind of type. 'e did not seem to 'ave 'is own opinions at all," Fleur said with a careless tone.

"So you two didn't…"

"Non."

"But someone saw you two snogging in the garden last night. "

"Oui. I did zat to shut 'im up. 'e was quite bad kisser." Fleur answered indifferently. She was more focused on something else at the moment.

"No he's not, I've kissed him and he…" one of the Ravenclaw girls spoke up in rather defensive manner but was interrupted by Fleur.

"Well name one zat is worse zan 'im and I'll take your word for it, zen." Fleur was getting irritated.

"I… er… well…"

"If you 'ave nothing else to say, would you let me eat ze breakfast," Fleur said coldly. The girl who had just spoken was about to say something, but decided to let it be and continued eating in silence. Fleur took a sip from her pumpkin juice, suppressed a grimace, thinking how much she missed orange juice.

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After the breakfast Fleur and Hermione met in the Entrance Hall and decided to spend the day indoors, in Fleur's room. The time went by when they talked about everything between heaven and earth.

"I hate Ron, he's just such an insensitive prick," Hermione complained.

"Maybe 'e was jealous," Fleur teased.

"He would be, if he knew the truth. I mean, you're the only thing I've heard him talk about for the past few months."

"'ow about 'arry?"

"What about him?"

"Is 'e an insensitive prick too?"

"Oh, no. I've actually told him about you and me, he sort of guessed it," Hermione said, blushing a little bit.

"What did 'e say?"

"He has no problems with this, fortunately. I couldn't stand two narrow-minded pricks hanging around me the whole time." Hermione clearly wanted to change the subject, "By the way, if you were wondering about my present, I'll give it to you later. I can't really give it yet, it's too early."

"I was not. My present needs very late 'ours too," Fleur said, flashing a mischievous grin.

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Hours passed while they were having a conversation, without any further mention of either Ron or Harry. They went back to the castle to eat dinner and came back as soon as they had finished their meals.

"If you need to get your present you should get it now," Fleur said as they entered her room.

"No need for that, I have it with me," Hermione said.

"But you don't 'ave any…" Fleur started to say, noticing the lack of boxes and wrapper papers.

"I have it with me," Hermione interrupted. She placed a finger on Fleur's lips and leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Zat was it?" Fleur asked after they had parted.

"Of course not, silly." Hermione chuckled.

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It was nearing midnight already and neither had given their presents yet.

"Now's a perfect moment. Close your eyes," Hermione said to Fleur who was lying on her back. She did as told and closed her eyes tightly. She could hear Hermione muttering something, assuming it was a spell of some kind.

"You can open your eyes now," Hermione said quietly. After opening them, Fleur was speechless. She couldn't decide if she was more impressed by Hermione's talents or the beauty of the night sky opening in front of her eyes.

"Now we can watch the stars without freezing in the cold, though for only a limited time. I don't really know how to make the spell permanent like in the Great Hall; it should stay visible for few days, maybe for a week if we're lucky enough," Hermione explained and turned to lay on her back to gaze the stars. Both laid there in silence for several minutes before Fleur spoke up.

"Merci, 'ermione."

"You're welcome."

"It's my turn to give you my present. You 'ave to close your eyes too," Fleur said quietly but with determined tone. Hermione closed her eyes and soon felt the warm weight as Fleur sat on top of her. Her arms were soon guided above her head and she could feel something soft around her wrists. She opened her eyes to check what was happening. Fleur gave the same mischievous grin she had seen earlier.

"I didn't give you a permission to open zem yet, you will get punished for zat later, 'ermione" Fleur said, still grinning and tightening the knots that tied Hermione to the bed.

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TBC…

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HAH. Don't you even dare to ask for more specific details. :D It's up to your perverted imagination to figure out what happened.

hmph. you might wanna give me reviews to hype me up again and give me the bug to write more of this. .

I really felt a tinge of guilt every time I got a review on the last chapter. I know I should have updated sooner.

I apologize for this delay.

But, R&R!!