Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter… it would be a much longer series… like twenty books long or so.

Authors Note: Well, now that the second task is over, there'll be a bit of fluff till such time as the third task starts. Now, I had a few questions from last chapter that I'll just go ahead and clear up here…

Question 1: Was it veela form or animagus form?

Answer 1: It was veela form. When veela get angry, they turn avian in appearance, grow cruel beaks, claws, and scaled wings. They can also shoot fire from their hands, but that wouldn't have happened under water. I simply made it that Fleur's transformation required a bit more necessity and emotion, assuming that a full-blooded veela could transform at the drop of a hat.

Question 2: Who's blood was the green blood?

Answer 2: It was the grindylow's blood, the one that Fleur blew apart with the blasting curse. I decided that, since everything else is green, why not give it slimy, green blood?

With that out of the way, let us begin, shall we?

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Speaking entirely in French"

Narrative

At A Glance

Chapter 9: Recoveries at a glance

Fleur saw white light, a lot of white light. She looked around and saw that there was more white, but it wasn't light, as well as grey and black. She tried to sit up, but it hurt to do so, and she couldn't seem to move her arms. Her legs worked, but they still hurt when she moved them. Well, one of her legs worked when she tried to move it. Overall, it felt like she had been on the receiving end of a blasting curse.

'Oh, wait… I was… more or less.' Fleur thought to herself as she tried to move once more, only to notice that her whole body hurt.

A slight moan escaped her as she tried to move, her vision and subsequent hearing clearing up all the while. The white light turned out to be a special enchanted flame above her, and the other white were curtains like those in a medical wing. The grey and black were stone walls, floors, and ceilings, and after a moment Fleur had a good idea of where she was.

"Hospital wing…" Fleur said in a low tone "…that is better than I thought I'd be."

She tried to sit up again, and though she tried pushing through the pain, it appeared as though her arms were pinned down at her sides. Glancing down along her body, she saw that somebody had changed her clothes out, putting her in one of her looser Beauxbatons uniforms. Also, she was noticing that breathing hurt a bit, but that was dulled by the fact that everything else hurt to a greater degree.

"You're awake." the voice of an older woman said from outside Fleur's line of sight.

She glanced in the direction of the voice, seeing an elderly woman dressed in an almost medieval style nurses outfit come into view a moment later. She likewise assumed that she was the nurse in charge of the hospital wing at Hogwarts.

"This is the hospital wing, non?" Fleur asked, somewhat rhetorically "What happened?"

"Can't remember? That blasting curse you used nearly killed you." the matron said, her face stern as she crossed her arms "What exactly made you think that using a blasting curse at close quarters was an intelligent idea?"

Fleur simply snorted in response.

"You need to be more careful! I can only heal so much damage." the matron said as she continued to scold her "I wasn't even able to repair all the damage that you did to yourself this time."

"Pardon moi?" Fleur replied, not quite sure what she had heard had been accurate "What is wrong still?"

"You came in here with two comminuted fractures along your entire arms, a compound comminuted fracture that was your entire right leg, a collapsed ribcage with several internal injuries, seven large gashes to your right leg and shoulder, a severe concussion, and countless contusions, abrasions, and cuts." the nurse stated as she came over and began a diagnostic spell on Fleur, starting at her legs "Just how much of that do you think I was able to heal?"

Fleur didn't really want to play this game right now; she felt terrible as it was.

"I don't know." she finally relented.

"Hmph… well, all the surface injuries are taken care of, as are the internal injuries and concussion." the nurse responded "I've fixed the bones as well, but they aren't completely set yet. It's not exactly easy to repair bones when there's about fifty pieces of bone the size of an ant floating around in muscle tissue. It took me twelve hours to put your arms back together with the aid of the standby team from St. Mungo's. You are lucky that we didn't have to send you there instead… or back to France in a casket."

Fleur's face paled a bit; she didn't think the blast had been that strong.

"Was… was it really that bad?" Fleur asked cautiously.

"Yes, and it could have been worse, had the other Champions and Mr. Weasley not pulled you from the water before you drowned." the matron stated as firmly as ever "You owe them your life, and you owe your girlfriend both an apology and an explanation at least."

"Oh no… she… she saw me like that… didn't she?" Fleur asked, her voice cracking a bit as her fear began to grow "Please madame, tell me she's okay!"

"I won't say she's fine; she's still pretty shaken." the nurse said as she finished her diagnostic spell "She's been in here the entire time you were unconscious, bawling her eyes out for the most part. I only got her to calm down last evening, but even then she wasn't quite calm and composed. I got her into talking though, and that seemed to help calm her down a bit more."

"Oh Merlin… why the hell did I do that in front of her?" Fleur said, noting more than one particular thing at that moment "Is she still here?"

"No; I sent her to get some lunch, and bring some back for me. You technically haven't eaten in two days your know." the nurse stated with a hint of a smirk "Luckily, you should be able to eat well on your 'date' tomorrow to try to make up for this stupid predicament you've put yourself in."

"Date? What-" Fleur began, then remembered that, if she'd been in there for two days, that would make tomorrow Saturday, which meant- "Tomorrow's the Hogsmeade trip?!"

"That it is, and Madam Maxime gave you permission to go the day before the Second Task." the nurse explained "I suggest you go tomorrow, regardless of how terrible you'll feel in the morning. I've even prepared a potion to help you cope with the pain."

"…Merci, Madame." Fleur finally said, then paused for a moment "Did… did she say anything about my veela form?"

The nurse's previous smirk was gone in an instant.

"Well, she-"

"Madam Pomfrey? I'm back and brought you something-" Hermione announced as she opened the door to the hospital wing, but she froze and nearly dropped the food she was carrying when she met Fleur's eyes "Fleur! You're awake!"

Despite the pain and guilt/despair she felt, Fleur managed to smile, though she still couldn't get up too easily.

"Bonjour Hermione…" Fleur managed in a somewhat happy tone "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."

Hermione approached slowly, carrying a small tray for Madam Pomfrey with both arms. Fleur knew that she wasn't approaching slowly solely for that reason though; she could sense the whirlwind of emotions that Hermione was feeling. Anger, joy, sadness, nervousness, fear, relief, and one emotion that seemed too distant from the immediate emotions for Fleur to figure out what it was at that moment. If this is how she was feeling now, then she must have been an utter wreck the last two days. That thought only made Fleur feel worse about her previously selfish and stupid actions.

"Well, Fleur, you'll remain here until tomorrow, then you will be discharged an hour before you leave on the Hogsmeade trip." Pomfrey said in an attempt to get out of the area ASAP so the two could talk, as Hermione had asked her to do "You'll be stiff, weak, and sore for about a week, and you'll need to take a special potion once a day to help with the pain and the recovery process. Now, I believe that I have other patients to attend to, so if you will, excuse me."

With a slight nod to Hermione, Madam Pomfrey left quickly, making sure to lock the door to prevent them from having any unwanted visitors while they talked. Apparently, the food had just become Fleur's instead, as she hadn't even bothered to take it. Hermione set it down on a table next to Fleur, and then proceeded to sit down at the end of Fleur's bed. Then came silence, which made Fleur all the more uncomfortable.

"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked, her face nearly expressionless.

"It hurts to move… and breath… and be awake… but it's better than I could have been." Fleur said, her own smile nowhere in sight "…how have you been?"

"Fine. It's better than I could have been." Hermione said, though it came like a slap in the face to hear Fleur's own words thrown back at her, even if it wasn't a directly pointed statement.

"…I'm sorry." Fleur said, though it appeared to go unheard.

"Why did you do that?" Hermione asked, her tone once more nearly blank, though Fleur could tell that that whirlwind of emotions was still there "You're not ignorant, nor are you stupid. Why did you do that?"

"…I wasn't thinking clearly; it was the first thing that came to me." Fleur responded honestly, looking Hermione directly in the eyes in an attempt to remove all doubt.

"You almost died, and it's because you weren't 'thinking clearly'?" Hermione said, her voice being hinged with anger "Is that what happens when you turn like that?"

Fleur felt her blood chill at that.

"Non, that is not-"

"Then why the bloody hell did you nearly kill yourself like that?!" Hermione interrupted, her voice rising as she was losing her composure "What the bloody hell were you thinking?! I saw you nearly die! Do you have any idea how terrified I was?!"

Tears were forming as Hermione became ever the more emotional, and Fleur had to do everything she could not to crack. Even then it was difficult not to break out in tears herself. Problem one of empathy: the emotions of others affect how your own emotions are.

"I wasn't trying to scare you," Fleur began, forcing herself to sit up slightly despite the pain she felt "and I don't know why I did that… I've never been that far gone before."

That seemed to calm Hermione a bit, but not a whole lot.

"…so it was that form you changed to that made you do it?" Hermione expounded, still highly irate "If you hadn't killed it or knocked yourself out, would you have gotten worse?"

"Non, I can only transform so far as a quarter-veela." Fleur explained, seeing it as a way to disarm the situation "I have to be either bloodthirsty or near-death as far as I-."

"So which were you?"

"…I don't know."

"Bollocks."

"What?" Fleur said, not expecting Hermione to respond that way.

"Saying you don't know is a load of bollocks." Hermione continued, growing more upset now "You knew when you were four that you were attracted to girls, and you can't tell me that at the age of seventeen you don't know if you were out for blood or fearing for your life. So which was it?!"

For a fleeting moment, Fleur wished she hadn't told Hermione about that. Still, she was never one to say things she didn't mean… that last statement notwithstanding.

"Both." Fleur admitted as she let herself back down carefully "He was trying to kill me, but he was also taking me away from you."

Hermione had no real response to that, for it wasn't quite what she was expecting as a response either.

"The instinctual veela in me is sometimes a bit… possessive. Sometimes I'll change when someone or something that I care about becomes involved negatively, and when I'm changed, I tend to not think properly and overreact." Fleur explained quietly "I've never grown the wings though, and I've never done something so dangerous either. I've never gone past the scales forming on my back before, to be honest."

Fleur sighed again, mostly in an attempt to relieve the pain in her chest.

"I don't ever want to change; it's not something I can control." Fleur continued to explain "It just… happens. I'd never change if I had the choice."

Hermione knew Fleur was telling the truth; she never said anything she didn't mean, and she never lied to her about personal matters. How could she stay mad at someone who admitted their faults so readily, despite normally being proud and almost haughty in the eyes of many? Besides, she already took most of her frustrations out on a poor statue out in the hallway… multiple times before finally having sense enough to repair it.

"I don't ever want to see you like that again." Hermione said firmly, though her attempt to stay mad was failing "I don't ever want you to do anything so bloody stupid either. I don't want to see you…"

Fleur didn't have to look at Hermione to know the tears were beginning to fall; she could feel Hermione's sadness almost as well as she felt it. Her eyes began to leave trails down her cheeks as well. She tried to move to comfort Hermione, but all she could manage was to get her 'good' leg to brush against her slightly.

"I'm sorry." Fleur said, and this time it was heard "I didn't mean to do that to you; it was selfish and stupid of me, and I hope you can-"

"I'm still here, talking to you as rationally as possible, aren't I?" Hermione managed with her tears "Besides, Harry's nearly killed himself more times than I can count, and I'm still his friend."

Fleur couldn't help but chuckle at that, which is when she realized that that particular action hurt like hell.

"…it won't happen again, I promise, mon cheri." Fleur said as seriously as she meant it "The last thing I want to do is upset you."

That brought a smile to Hermione's face, though the tears kept falling. Fleur knew it wasn't so much out of sadness as it was relief. Hermione stood up at that point, instead moving to where Fleur's head was, looming over her with a smile as she noticed the tears on Fleur's face as well.

"… you're even beautiful when you cry." Hermione noted out loud "How can you be beautiful all the time?"

"I'd say 'because of you', but that would be 'cheesy', non?" Fleur said, still maintaining some semblance of humor despite the presence situation "This is the part where we kiss and make up, non?"

"I don't know, is it?" Hermione said with the same type of smirk Fleur normally had when she was teasing.

"Oui." Fleur responded as she tried to close the distance between their lips, only to realize that severe pain was a complete 'buzz-kill' "Ow…"

"You alright?" Hermione asked, now concerned instead.

"Oui, now back to the 'kiss and make up' part…" Fleur said, this time waiting for Hermione to close the gap instead, to which the younger girl readily and passionately obliged.

Authors Note: Well, this is probably my worst chapter, simply because I'm not as practiced at the 'I'm royally pissed at you for doing that' back and forth arguments, and then factoring in Fleur's and Hermione's mindsets… it was hard to pull this off as well as I did, but I still feel it was my worst chapter yet. On another note, I missed my '24 hour maximum limit' by about 12 hours… so yeah, no more deadlines for me. Please please please please PLEASE review! I REALLY want to know how I did on this one.

Also remember the poll on my author page; IT WILL DETERMINE THE PAIRING OF MY NEXT FIC!! Thank you to those who have already voted.