Hello once again. Took a mini break, to play some video games, but I'm back. I wrote some pretty deep stuff that probably made no sense last time, so I'm back to some light and not-so-serious stuff. Be prepared.

Thank you once again to all the reviews, favorites, and follows … and the occasional smiley faces.

"Quack."

…

"Quack."

Fleur stared at the object in front of her with wide eyes as she knelt down in front of it. She watched as it blinked and tilted its head in front of her, as if it was mimicking her actions. Slightly put out, Fleur frowned and decided to poke it, on its weird little beak. However, the creature did not take too kindly to that and glared at Fleur.

"QUACK!"

Yelping, Fleur withdrew her hand, losing her balance from the sudden cry, and fell onto her butt. She stared at the creature again, this time with a mixture of fear and anger. How dare a small little creature scare her. Huffing, she glared at the creature from afar, said creature returned the glare, ruffling its … feathers? wings?

After a while, Fleur scoffed, turning her head away from the silly creature who stood at the front door of their house. She opened the door and stepped in, making sure to snap the door shut so the stupid little creature didn't have a chance to even set a foot inside. Then, when she heard the loud indignant "QUACK!" behind the door, she nearly cackled with glee.

Smiling, she tossed her shoes off to the side, beside Hermione's own that were neatly placed in an orderly fashion much unlike her own. The blonde made her way towards the living room, throwing her coat and work bag on the couch as she threw herself onto the loveseat happily. As she curled up, she let a giggle escape as she thought just how mad Hermione would be, how she would scowl and growl when she walked into the mess that Fleur had made (on purpose).

She let herself rest for a few minutes before she began to wonder just where Hermione had wandered off to and just then, she heard what sounded like water being turned on and smiled as she got up to her feet. She walked past the kitchen to where two big glass doors were, separating the house from the backyard, as she had predicted, she found Hermione in the yard where the younger woman was holding the hose, most likely watering the flowers and other plants.

A familiar warmth began to warm up in her heart as she watched the bushy haired woman work in their garden, humming quietly as if no one could hear (but Fleur could, she would always hear Hermione). It was always a sight to see her lover work, the way her eyes would soften and warm her up, the way her fingers seemed to become longer, it was something Fleur could not resist seeing.

When Fleur decided that staring was not enough, she pushed the doors open and stepped outside herself, barefooted, making her way towards Hermione who halted in her watering of the flowers to turn to greet Fleur with a wide smile. When they were close enough, Fleur gathered Hermione in her arms and simply held her long enough to sneak a few kisses.

"Bonjour, kitten," Fleur greeted once they untangled themselves from each other.

"Hello to you too, darling," Hermione replied, almost shyly as she turned back to watering the plants, but Fleur was not fooled, she knew she still had most (if not all) of Hermione's attention. "You're back a little later than expecting, did something pop up?" She asked, with the slightest of concern.

"Well … there was something in the front. A bird? No … it did not fly, it simply sat at the front and … barked? No … but it made weird sounds at me," Fleur informed her, shaking her head all the while, "It was stupid, do not mind it, I'm sure it's already gone," she assured Hermione.

She was taken aback when Hermione gasped, dropping the hose altogether as she turned to Fleur, grasping the older woman's shoulders, "Was it yellow, with an orange beak and did it go like … 'quack'?" She asked frantically, shaking Fleur's shoulders.

"O-Oui … I did not know what it was, it was not magical for I could not recognize it, can you tell me?" Fleur asked, as she watched Hermione free her shoulders and set off pacing and mumbling under her breath. With a raised eyebrow, Fleur turned the water off, so that the fallen hose would not drown the rest of the garden, "'Ermione? Was it really that important?" She asked, slightly regretting the fact that she had nearly tried to attack the creature.

"Well, it's not that important, but … For starters, it's called a duck. It's a type of … water bird, you could say, they can fly, walk and swim. Yes, they are animals and they're not exactly all that important but … I just … I find them adorable you see … and I never really had a chance to stay long enough in the muggle world to actually find and interact with one," Hermione admitted, slightly sheepish, "Are you sure you saw one though? What would it be doing on our front door?"

Fleur listened closely, now regretting her decision to anger and attempt to chase the 'duck' away, "Oui … I did see one, but I poked it and I think it was really angry," She confessed. Hermione gave her a surprised look, but before she could say anything, Fleur grabbed Hermione's hand, tugging it, "It may not be too late, let's go see if it's still there," she suggested.

With a happy nod, Hermione let herself be pulled away. They happily ran through the doors back into the house again, Hermione didn't even bother to yell at Fleur for throwing all her things on the couch, as they reached the front door. As excited as she was, she did not expect to see Fleur grab for the doorknob and push the door open as wide as possible.

Before she could scold her, she heard a very loud and angry "QUACK!" in response to the action, immediately she dropped her gaze down to the duck who stood just a few steps away from the door glaring at the two of them.

With a happy squeal, she ran up to the angry duck, wow'ed and awed, and began to pet it.

Fleur watched with a twitching eye, and began to plot.

"Hm? What are you doing, Hermione?" Fleur asked, one sunny morning, when she woke up finding Hermione missing from their bed, only to find the woman sitting at her desk and … working?

Blushing slightly, Hermione turned to Fleur, "I was just thinking about the duck … we probably won't see it ever again, and I kinda miss it. It was adorable, Fleur, don't deny it!" Hermione pressed on, watching Fleur roll her eyes.

"Non, 'Ermione. It was not adorable, it kept glaring at me the entire time!" Fleur replied, before she rolled up the sleeves of her shirt, "It even attacked me, I was bleeding and in pain," she added, throwing a look over to Hermione.

"You were not bleeding, Fleur. Maybe it hurt a bit, but a mere peck shouldn't hurt," Hermione said as she shook her head at Fleur, "Besides you were just asking for it, what with throwing rocks at it."

"It didn't even hit it!"

"That's not the point, Fleur!"

Growling, Fleur threw the blankets off of herself as she marched over to Hermione, "Look! There are scars and bruises on me! That … thing, duck whatever, walked off with nothing! Except all of my fruits!" She grumbled, as she looked over Hermione's head to see what she was up working on when she let out a gasp. "And now you'd rather be drawing this stupid duck than sleep with me!?"

"Fleur! All ducks look like that!"

"That's not the point!" Fleur raged on, grabbing the rest of the papers, beside Hermione's own. As she flipped through them, she soon came to the conclusion that they were all drawings of that stupid duck, until she reached the last one and skimmed over the words before turning to Hermione once more, "...You even wrote a love letter for it?" She asked, more impressed than angry this time.

"It's not a love letter! You stupid woman it's part of my journal!" Hermione replied, taking all the papers from Fleur's hand, "Who are you to judge anyway, shouldn't you be happy I'm taking an interest in birds?" She asked.

"Quoi!? Why would I be happy, you're simply being crazy!"

"Go back to sleep. When you wake up, maybe you'll figure it out."

Grumbling, Fleur did just that.

Hermione returned back to their rooms after she finished eating her lunch, she cursed the fact that Fleur was such a heavy sleeper and the fact that she had forgotten so when she told the part veela woman to go back to sleep. She shook her head and sighed as she opened the door to their room.

Immediately, she realized something was off, but pleasantly so.

"Seems like you do have a head afterall, under all you're blond hair," Hermione teased lightly as she closed the door and stepped into the room. She took a large breath, smiling contently as she recognized Fleur's scent, she sat on the edge of the bed, staring down at Fleur who only smirked and poked Hermione's leg.

"My silly veela," Hermione cooed, as she took in the transformed Fleur lying on their bed. The part veela had only transformed halfway through. Her wings were not seen, her hands were not talons yet, but still, her eyes had shifted to that of gold, her neck, chest, and legs were beginning to be covered in feathers.

"You are definitely the cutest bird ever, ducks be damned," Hermione reassured her as she heard the veela pur in pure delight, and wrap itself around her, tickling her with its feathers and light touches.

Yes. Hermione never took a liking to ducks ever again, after studying Fleur thoroughly that night.

Short, sorry. Going to sleep now! Hope you enjoyed!