Hermione arrived in Harfleur after a very luxurious ferry ride. As soon as she stepped from the ship, she had fallen into instant love with the port town. The Forsberg's had been kind enough to have a taxi waiting for her arrival. Because this was primarily a Muggle town, Hermione was pleased to have it. She wouldn't have wanted to Apparate to the Forsberg's home, because she didn't know the proper Apparation point. In addition, this was a foreign country, she reminded herself. No sense in landing into trouble with the French Ministry.
Harfleur was very picturesque. Hermione kept expecting Snow White with all seven dwarfs to walk out of one of the colorful homes. She could smell the fresh sea air, and loved the sight of the houses set right next to the meandering Lezarde River.
The collection of 15th, 17th, and 18th century architecture, along with the beautiful timbered homes only served to add to the town's story book charm. One could easily see the English influence on the French town, but Hermione enjoyed the unique mixture.
The ride to the Forberg's manor was a forty-five minute drive down a long chestnut tree avenue that passed several small farms and homes. Hermione soon learned that calling the home a manor had been very misleading.
"The place is a bloody palace," she murmured under her breath. Or chateau would be more apt, she mentally stated to herself.
The taxi rolled under an imposing stone gatehouse set into a towering stone wall, and stopped in front of a set of large wooden doors.
Hermione helped the taxi driver remove her luggage, and as soon as the taxi sped away, the door was opened by a house-elf.
She assumed that the elf was male, mostly by the blue tea towel that he wore.
This was confirmed when he spoke. "Might you be Miss Granger?" he asked. The voice was French accented and surprisingly deep for a house-elf.
Nodding in assent, Hermione stepped forward and was grateful when the elf levitated her luggage to follow.
"My name is Ansel. I am the steward of Chateau du Stream," he was saying as he led Hermione through the awe inspiring home.
The great room had a tall coffered ceiling and windows cut in the diamond cut fashion. The foyer had a grand stairway, under which there seemed to be an entrance to a wine cellar, that she spied while crossing under a beautiful palladian archway.
Hermione's fingers literally itched with want as she passed by a library that was paneled in a deep cherry wood. One look told her that she would want to spend most of her time there. There were two levels of books! And she had only had a brief glance.
She was snapped out of her book lust by Ansel's voice. "Maitre Forsberg and Mademoiselle Jacqueline aren't in at the moment, but they instructed me to tell you that they would be seeing you at dinner."
After what seemed forever, the house was huge after all, they reached the back yard. Walking down stone steps, they came upon an Olympic sized pool inlaid with a mosaic of blue and green tile. The effect mimicked ocean water and made it seem as if the pool was a hidden lagoon. There was an accompanying pool house set back into a copse of trees. It brought a question to Hermione's mind.
"I was told that there would be a cottage for my use," she asked of the elf.
Glancing back at her he answered, "Oh oui, mademoiselle. It is not far."
Hermione could have, and did, gasp in joy at the sight of the cottage. It was set a little back from the house on a small hill.
After the opulence of the chateau, she had been afraid that she would be uncomfortable by herself in the cottage. Instead, she found herself charmed by the small house. It seemed almost a mismatch for the castle in front of it. The house had a stone and wooden fence surrounding it that almost seemed to sag under the weight of the flowers and greenery that grew over it with abandon.
It was two-story home, and one had to walk up a short flight of stone steps before the white wooden door could be reached. The door opened into a large room that was the kitchen, living room, and dining area all in one. The focal point of the room was a large stone fireplace.
The furniture consisted of a comfortable looking deep blue couch and a matching set of armchairs with a sturdy looking small table between them. In front of the couch was a royal blue area rug that looked soft enough to sleep on.
The kitchen was a little on the small side, but Hermione reasoned that she would be taking most of her meals with the family in the Chateau. She would be having quick meals here and perhaps cooking a little on her off days. The dining area was a small square table set with four matching chairs.
Ansel let her up the short staircase that was set to the right of the fireplace and to a large room that was directly down the hall from the white tiled bathroom. The bedroom was painted a mellow golden yellow and the bed dominated the room. Hermione figured that the bedroom took up most of the back of the cottage.
Looking out of one of the windows, she spotted a small wrought iron table and chairs that she could already imagine as the place that she would take her morning tea.
Ansel proceeded to unpack and put away her things with a snap of his long fingers. As the clothes levitated away from the trunks and folded or moved to hang in the large wooden armoire, he spoke. "Dinner is always at six sharp and you are required to dress properly. Breakfast is always at seven and is less formal. Since the Maitre and Mademoiselle Forsberg are usually occupied with activities and appointments during the day, they usually call for a house-elf to bring them something. Your personal house-elf is named Liddy. At the moment, she is at the grocers gathering some basic things for your pantry. If you have particular things you would like you need only ask her. She should be here before it is time for dinner," Ansel said pointing to the antique clock on the wall. It was four pm.
That didn't leave her much time to get settled and ready for dinner. She thanked Ansel for his help before the elf Apparated away with a pop.
Hermione slipped her feet out of the green ballet flats that she wore and reached a hand up to loosen her hair from the knot that she had secured that morning.
Entering the bathroom, which had a large claw foot tub with an old fashioned shower, she decided to take a long soak. Starting the water, she added some vanilla scented bubble bath and went back to the bedroom to find something to wear while the water filled.
What to wear? It wasn't exactly a formal occasion, but she couldn't show up in her jeans either. Maybe a church dress? She finally decided on an ivory colored pencil dress. It was sleeveless with a narrow golden belt. She planned to wear it with nude peep toe heels and a gold tennis bracelet that her mother had given her for her sixteenth birthday.
Returning to the bathroom she turned off the water, slipped out of her clothes, and sank into the warm scented water with relish.
Hermione let her mind wander back to her last visit with her friends before she left for France.
Ginny had practically begged Hermione to let her throw her a small party at Grimmauld Place, before she left.
Hermione had tried her best to back out of the party. Not because she didn't want to see everyone, even though the thought of Ron and Lavender gave her pause, but because she knew that Ginny would try her best to pry out what was bothering her. Not to mention the fact that the last party had had less than desirable results.
Sure enough, twenty minutes after the party had started, and Ron and Harry had popped out to get more firewhisky, Ginny had bluntly asked "What's wrong with you lately?"
Hermione was hesitant to answer, and looking around, Ginny pulled her into the kitchen to talk privately.
Pushing her fringe behind her ear, the red haired witch stated, "You haven't been yourself since after Christmas break. I don't want to pry, but is it Ron? Do you still have feelings for him? I know that I'm his sister, and no one knows as much as I do how much of a prat he can be, but don't be afraid to talk to me. We are friends you know. As long as I'm with Harry, and that is going to be forever, we are going to be in each others lives. "
Hermione had been in a constant struggle over her secret. She wasn't a blabber mouth by any means, but she found that she needed to tell someone, and she knew that Ginny would keep her secret.
"It's not Ron, Ginny. Honestly, I'm happy that he has moved on, even if it is with Lavender. I still care about your brother and I want him to be happy, but I'm not in love with him anymore," she closed her eyes briefly.
"Come on, Hermione. I can see that you are about to burst and you seem, well not quite miserable, but definitely upset. Come on, tell Mama Weasley," Ginny joked.
The dam burst. Casting a Muffliato charm, for anyone nosy enough to listen in, Hermione said, "I slept with Blaise Zabini."
Ginny's mouth dropped open in shock. "Blaise Zabini? What? Okay, you have to tell me how that happened."
That was what Hermione loved about Ginny. She never judged, and thank Merlin that she didn't go off on some tangent about Blaise's well known Muggle hating sensibilities.
"Okay, remember when we had the party here over Christmas?" At Ginny's nod she continued, "I was coming out of the loo when I heard voices coming down from hall. It was Lavender and Parvati. I didn't really feel like talking to them, but I heard my name mentioned, and my curiousity got the better of me. I shouldn't have listened, because I ended up hearing some things that I really would have rather not heard."
"What sorts of things? I love my brother, but if Lavender said anything about my family or you that I won't like I'll Bat Bogey that bitch to hell," Ginny said fiercely.
"No…no, it was about me," Hermione said and visibly saw some of the ire leave Ginny's body.
"Lavender was going on and on about how I was probably frigid and how I'll end up as some spinster with twenty cats or something. I know I'm not frigid," she ended sheepishly. She had never gone into detail about her and Ron's sex life with Ginny before.
Ginny snorted. "Please, I know that just by sound. You and Ron really should have made sure that you cast a Muffliato. Just because Mum and Dad weren't here didn't mean someone else wasn't." She giggled a bit at Hermione's very red face.
Hermione cleared her throat, embarrassed. "Anyway, it got me to thinking. I really hadn't spent much time doing anything fun. It had been just class, study, and bed for months, and really I was getting a bit bogged down by it. So I decided to do something outrageous; nothing big enough to end up in the Daily Prophet, but something for my own sense of accomplishment."
"So get to the part about the sex," Ginny urged.
Rolling her eyes, Hermione continued, "I saw this ad in Witch Weekly about a masquerade ball and I thought to myself what the hell? I would go and have a mini adventure. Dance, drink, and party it up, with no one the wiser."
"What did you go as?"
"Honestly, it took me forever to find a costume. I looked in practically all of the costuming shops in London, until I finally found this small out of the way shop. I ended up buying this absolutely gorgeous belly dancer outfit. It was a blue skirt, and a gold coin bra. With it I had a gold mask and a blue cloak."
"You wore a belly dancer outfit?"
Hermione giggled despite herself. "Yes, I did. To tell you the truth I looked pretty damn good in it."
"Well I didn't doubt that. You always had it, I'm just surprised that you decided to flaunt it."
"Well, that mask went a long way toward boosting my confidence. Anyway, the ball was invitation only. When I got there, I was a bit scared, but I decided that since I had already went this far, I may as well do it big. The ballroom looked kind of like The Hall of Mirrors in France, but done in black and silver. The atmosphere kinda reminded me of Labyrinth."
At Ginny's puzzled look she added," It's this Muggle movie, but anyway the reference doesn't matter that much. So as soon as I got into the ballroom and took off my cloak I felt these eyes burning into me. They ended up belonging to a very sexy highwayman."
"Ah, so Blaise enters at stage left," Ginny quipped.
"Well, I didn't know that he was Blaise then. He was just a very hot guy who spent the next few hours dancing with and chatting me up at a party. After a while, it was getting kind of late and he invited me to his house."
"Hermione Granger! You went home with some masked guy you didn't know?"
"I had my wand," Hermione replied defensively. "He seemed like a really nice guy, and if he wasn't, I could deal with it. After Voldemort and the Death Eaters, one wizard doesn't seem like too much of a challenge."
"There is that," Ginny acceded.
"So, we get to what he calls a villa, but is really was a blooming mansion. I don't think I had planned to have sex; really I was just going with the moment. He had a house-elf there that he was so sweet to. Not at all like the Blaise from school. He fed me breakfast and we ended up making out. The making out ended up in us having sex on his parlor floor. I didn't find out until the morning after that it had been Blaise the entire time," Hermione ended.
"So how did he react?"
"He didn't. I peeked under his mask, and when I saw who it was I got my arse out of there."
"Oh Merlin, so he still doesn't know who you are. That is going to make any future meetings pretty awkward."
"Not for him. Really, it's not like he and I run in the same crowds. He won't know anything, and I'm sure as hell not going to tell him," Hermione firmly stated.
Ginny leaned against the kitchen counter digesting the story.
Hermione braced herself for questions and was only slightly surprised when Ginny asked, "So tell me, how was the sex, because his reputation notwithstanding, that bloke is scorching hot. Hermione, I wouldn't have thought that you had it in you. Anonymous sex. Very kinky, my girl."
Hermione sighed in defeat. "Just the thought of the sex makes my thighs go up in flames. I mean, wow, he must like read books or something because no offense, but it was never like that with Ron."
Ginny held up her hands, "Okay... Okay, I really don't want to know about how Ron is in the sack. The acoustics I heard was enough," she said with a giggle and the girls burst out laughing.
Ripping herself from memory lane, Hermione rose from the tub and pulling the stopper, rushed to her room to get dressed.