Author: Lash_Larue
Title: "Love"
Pairing: Ginny/Hermione, this part Fleur/Hermione, Ginny/Pansy
Rating: Adult
Summary: Things get real
Warnings: Bit of fluff, bit of angst
Word Count: 2177
Disclaimer: These characters belong to JK Rowling
The Hunters Part 24
"Love"
Returning to the present, Ginny stretched, the strange sense of suspension making the movement a new experience. She stood and looked around, and saw Pansy reclined on her side on the nearby bed, watching her. Ginny waded out of the pool, stopping at the very edge to return Pansy's gaze.
"The Birth of Venus…", Pansy thought. What she said was, "About time, Gin, I was starting to think I was gonna be on my own here, like usual."
"I've had broken bones before. My father was strict. I'm fine." Ginny recalled those words, and something clicked into place in her mind, and she knew what she was going to do. It must have shown on her face, because the teasing expression disappeared from Pansy's. "Could you dry me off here, Pansy?" Ginny asked, and Pansy did so with a flick of her wand.
Pansy's eyes grew wide in anticipation as Ginny climbed onto the bed and loomed over her.
"My turn," Ginny said in a voice that shook with emotion.
xxxx
"Mister Smithers, in light of the much higher than expected costs of this expedition, due in large measure to the violent muggle activity in the region, I propose the following changes to my contract…"
"I hope he goes for it," Bill said as he looked about the chamber he had finally succeeded in rendering safe.
xxxx
Fleur and Hermione lay content in each other's arms, having at last the time to "bask in the afterglow properly".
Soft and lingering kisses gave way to light touches, gave way to pregnant staring, gave way to sleep.
"This is going to be complicated," was Hermione's last conscious thought.
"I love you," was Fleur's.
xxxx
"Right then, Arthur, just keep on with the strengthening solution, and pop 'round monthly for a poke and prod. Let me know at once of course, should you feel ill or find a lump or tender spot," healer Pye instructed.
"I suppose this is what it's to be like, then," Arthur sighed. "Still and all, I hope to be subjected to it for many years to come."
"I hope you are too, Arthur," Pye agreed, "how is that beautiful grandchild of yours?"
"Marvelous! We're having her overnight this coming Saturday!"
xxxx
Whatever Pansy had been anticipating, it wasn't this, Ginny had taken Pansy in her arms, and softly kissed her eyes as she stroked her hair. She had held Pansy close and whispered to her as she gently caressed her body.
Pansy's initial reaction had been to protest when Ginny had whispered to her how beautiful she was, how strong, how loving. Pansy didn't need that, and she didn't want it. She had come through the trials life had set her by dint of sheer, bloody-minded determination, and she wasn't going to go soft now. She struggled a bit, but for a small woman Ginny was surprisingly strong, and she just refused to shut up!
Who cared that Pansy had a dimple, or that it was cute? Or that her eyes had flecks of gold in them, or that her skin bloomed with color under the touch of Ginny's hand? What did it matter? Why didn't Ginny simply get her off and be done with it?
And why in Merlin's name was she bloody weeping, these great silent tears pouring from her eyes as Ginny told her over and over how marvelous she was, how special, how much Victoire loved her, how much she meant to Fleur, to Hermione, to Ginny?
Why was she trembling beneath a touch that was barely there? Where was the pinch, the thrust, the penetration? Where was the percussion, the bruising kiss, and why, oh why was she being swept away by nothing more than tenderness?
How was it possible that she was utterly melting, feeling more complete than she ever had before, positively flooding in an indeterminate release that she reasoned must be some sort of orgasm, but seemed more an entirely new state of being?
And why did she want, more than anything in her life, for this to go on forever, this feeling that she had no memory of, of simply being cherished for who she was?
And here she was now, surrendering, not to a greater will than her own, but to love, as she snuggled against Ginny and fell smiling into sleep.
For a long time Ginny watched Pansy sleeping, seeing the remains of the tears on her face and in her eyelashes, studying the curve of her lips, feeling the trust and content of the woman in her arms.
"Uh-oh…" Ginny thought as she too slipped into sleep.
xxxx
"Good morning, 'Ermione, ma belle," Fleur said, brushing the hair from Hermione's face.
"Hi, is Victoire calling?"
"Non, it is early yet. I apologize for waking you, I just could not help touching your hair," Fleur told her, smiling.
"I didn't know it would be like this," Hermione said hesitantly. "I mean, I knew I loved you, knew I wanted you, but…"
"You did not know how real it would become?" Fleur suggested gently.
"I suppose that's it," admitted Hermione.
"Neither did I, I think," Fleur agreed. "It is one thing to say it, and another to feel it. How can one fall in love when one is already in love? I fear that I have asked too much of you and Ginny, that we may all pay too high a price for this."
"I'll just have to pay it, whatever it is," Hermione told her, "if you ask me to leave, I'll go. But I will not go on my own. It's just too late for that."
"The magic is stronger than I thought it would be, I should probably see Grandmere and the midwife," Fleur conceded. "And you should be aware that after the baby is born, these feelings may fade. But there is no way to tell, this is unprecedented."
"Should Ginny or I go with you?"
"I do not know, I shall owl Grandmere and ask."
"Mama!"
"The day has begun," Hermione said, and then she kissed Fleur and got out of bed.
"I'm coming, Victoire," she called out.
"No, I did not expect this," Fleur admitted, as she watched Hermione out of the room.
xxxx
"I thought you were going to sleep forever, Weasley," Ginny heard as she stirred awake.
"Huh, oh crap, Hermione and Fleur are going to be frantic!"
"Relax, I sent them an owl earlier. So, do you want the tour before or after breakfast?" Pansy asked.
"Before, I think," Ginny said through a yawn, "where's the nearest fairy light?" Pansy pointed.
"There are new toothbrushes in the cabinet," Pansy told her. Ginny felt an urge to kiss Pansy on her way by, but did not, as Pansy turned aside at her approach. "I've fixed your clothes," Pansy told her, but if you'd rather something more utilitarian there's plenty to choose from here."
"Thanks," Ginny called.
The bath was as nice as all the rest of Pansy's house that Ginny had seen, and Ginny looked longingly at the shower for an instant before yielding to the temptation and stepping into it.
She didn't even jump when Pansy joined her.
"I don't want to talk about last night, Ginny," Pansy told her as she washed the red hair. "Too much is going on in our lives right now, important things, bloody complicated things. So please just stand there and let me take care of you, because that's as close as I can come to saying the things that I want to say to you."
So Ginny stood and let Pansy care for her, she felt the small bruises of the night spelled away, and they emerged from the shower together, changed, but uncertain exactly how.
"Come on," Pansy said, and they strolled naked together through the jungle.
"You seem at home here, Pansy, like you belong," Ginny told her as completed the tour of the central area.
"This is my place," Pansy agreed, "my great indulgence."
"Thanks for sharing it with me," Ginny said, and then her eyes were caught by a bunch of small purple flowers. "Pansies, huh? I didn't know they were a jungle flower."
"They aren't, I just like them, and they're useful from time to time."
"How?" Pansy just shrugged, and then she picked one and tucked it into Ginny's hair.
"I need to get ready for work," Pansy said, "Merlin knows what kind of mess I'll find at the club."
"I should get back too, I'll just wear my own stuff home, it's not like I'm going in to some office. Where do we go for you to get me through the wards?"
"No need, I keyed them to you earlier. You can come and go as you please. If you Apparate, land by the pool, the Floo address is 'Parkshaven', that comes out in the music room."
That told Ginny even more than the shower had, and this time she didn't give Pansy time to turn away before she kissed her.
"Good luck with the next dance, Pans," Ginny told her, "if you break something else I'll be here. We'll do breakfast another time."
Ginny dressed and Apparated home.
"One way or another," Pansy said out loud, "something else is going to get broken before this is done."
xxxx
Ginny entered the cottage to find Hermione sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea and a thoughtful expression.
"Hey, babe," Ginny greeted, "where are the other girls?"
"Fleur took Victoire to her mother's. She wants to get her grandmother and the Veela midwife to check on the baby. It was good of Pansy to send the owl, I would have worried otherwise," Hermione admitted.
"Sorry, I slept late."
"Rough night?" Hermione asked with a smile as she looked at the flower in Ginny's hair.
"Different night, you?"
"The same. Ginny, I – this whole thing, it's…" Hermione's voice trailed off.
"Yeah, it is. It's just overwhelming; I don't know how it's going to work out for any of us," Ginny admitted.
"I'm in love with Fleur," Hermione told her, "and I can't tell what part of it is the magic, what part of it is the Veela, what part of it is Fleur… or what part of it is me."
"Do you still love me?" Ginny asked plainly.
"I do," Hermione said with no hint of doubt.
"And I love you," Ginny affirmed, "but I feel things for Pansy that I never would have believed possible. So what do we do?"
"It's like Fleur said, we knew the love was coming, except maybe for Pansy, but we didn't expect it to be so real. It's like, it's like something is filling up a hole that isn't really there. And it's all going to change when the baby comes, and there's no way to tell just how. But one thing is certain, I think…" Hermione said.
"We shouldn't get married until all this is over," Ginny finished. Hermione nodded and held out her hand to Ginny.
xxxx
"The baby is doing well," Fleur's midwife pronounced, "better than well, she is flourishing. The women by your side are splendid."
"They are indeed, and that is one reason why I have come," Fleur told Gwen, "the feelings of love, they are rather overwhelming. I am ashamed to say that I seldom think of my husband when I am with them."
"That is to be expected," Gwen assured her, "your feelings should all resume their true course once the child is born."
"And what might that be, I wonder," Fleur said speculatively.
"That, my dear friend, only time will tell for sure. Your grandmother is waiting, let us go."
Fleur and Gwen left the medical house and traveled the short distance to her grandmother's home. It was a modest residence for a queen.
"Fleur my love! How good to see you, I have been having the most marvelous time with Victoire, tell me, who is 'Hermonkey'?"
"She is one of my friends who are helping with the magic," Fleur answered her.
"I see," answered the queen, "I see plainly, my grandchild," she said to herself. "Now then, come and let me see what the young queen has to tell me."
Fleur stood before her grandmother, and the old Veela laid her hands on Fleur's belly, and her eyes closed. There was a charged feeling in the room, and those present felt a faint but warm breeze blowing, and then the queen sat up straight, and her eyes were shining silver.
"Your Other is magnificent, my child, the babe is much farther along than I expected. Already I can touch her with my mind. There are still things to be done, but with these women by your side I no longer fear the outcome. You have chosen well."
"I did not exactly choose, Grandmere, it just seemed to happen."
"Sometimes it is best to let the love take its own path," the queen said, "do you see this?"
"Oui," Fleur whispered.