The school library at Beauxbatons was massive, but it seemed to be built more for aesthetic pleasure than function. At Hogwarts, the library was large but felt small, cramped with bookshelves crammed into every available inch. At Beauxbatons, the library had a high domed ceiling, massive windows to let light in, and round floors of books available in tiers up the walls, all of which looked down to the bottom floor, where students gathered to study. There was the hum of quiet talking and chatting at the bottom floor, which surprised Hermione – Madam Pince would have never allowed such noise - but sound didn't seem to travel very far. Hermione wondered if the tables were enchanted to contain conversations, or if the books helped reduce the echo.

Fleur took Hermione to a table where three girls were sitting. She pulled out a chair for Hermione, gesturing for her to take it, before she pulled out her own roughly, plopping down in it carelessly. The girls looked up at Fleur's approach, eyebrows raised.

"Fleur?" one said. "Qu'est ce que tu veux?"

"Mesdemoiselles," Fleur said, gesturing very grandly and speaking very overdramatically, "j'aimerais vous présenter Hermione Granger, ma petite amie." Fleur smirked at them, eyes glinting. "She only speaks English, so endeavor to pull yours out, please?"

That wasn't quite fair, Hermione thought wryly. She knew enough to know the first girl had rudely demanded 'what do you want' of Fleur. She didn't know enough to really converse, though, so it hardly mattered.

The girls didn't seem phased, though. English clearly wasn't an issue.

"Ta petite amie?" a girl with dark hair repeated, dark eyes slitted. Her gaze cut over to Hermione. "You are Fleur's paramour? Her girlfriend?"

Hermione flushed. "Yes."

The girls all reacted with surprise, exchanging wide-eyed looks. Fleur leaned back in her chair, looking very smug and satisfied. Hermione wondered at her smugness. Fleur was stunning – were these girls really surprised that she would have a romantic interest?

"Enchantée, Hermione," one of the girls finally said. She glanced at the others. "I am Léa, and this is Manon and Juliette."

"Pleased to meet you," Hermione said, nodding to them. She couldn't exactly curtsy from her chair – or should she bow, now, with Fleur at her side? "So. You're Fleur's friends?"

The girls exchanged weighty glances, but Fleur saved them responding.

"They are the ones who were impressed by my performance at the spring dueling competition," Fleur said, in tones of satisfaction. "They did not expect my excellence."

"'ow could we?" Manon shot back. "You were not one to stand out in class."

"Fleur stands out without trying," Léa said dryly. "Why would she want to stand out more?"

Manon shot her friend a dirty look, but Léa merely shrugged.

"Welcome to Beauxbâtons, 'ermione," Juliette said, offering Hermione a smile. "You are visiting? Touring? What brings you 'ere?"

"Alchemy, mostly," Hermione said, returning the smile. "And curiosity. What sort of subjects do you study here?"

Juliette glanced up at Fleur, then to Léa, but then she shrugged, reaching into a bag she had on the floor next to her seat.

"They 'ave recently given us the course list for next semester," she said, passing a parchment over. "You can 'ave a look."

Fleur and her 'friends' were discussing something in quiet French while Hermione scribbled on a parchment. She had duplicated the girl's course list, and she was writing out equivalent subjects next to the listings in French.

Études Médicale – Medicine
Beaux-Arts et Littérature – Creative Arts and literature
Métaphysique - ?
Musique - Music
Soins de la Faune Magique – Care of Magical Creatures
Sorts et Magies de l'Esprit - ?
Défense personnelle et Diplomatie– Self-defense and diplomacy (DADA?)
Métamorphose - Transfiguration
Enchantements - Charms
L'Art des Potions – Potions
Langues et Langages du Monde – World Languages
Sensibilité aux Plantes – Herbology
Integration chez les Moldus – Muggle Studies

"Is this Metaphysics?" Hermione asked, nudging Fleur. She pointed at the list with her quill. "Philosophy?"

"It is." Fleur's eyes sparkled at her. "You asked about us learning of the Sublime, did you not?"

Hermione smiled.

"Fair enough. What's this one?" she said, pointing to the last she hadn't pieced together.

"Spells and Spirit Magic," Fleur translated. "It is not literal, however." She considered. "Euhh, how to say… it is like Hypnosis, perhaps? In English?"

"Hypnosis?" Hermione repeated, astonished. "In magic?"

"Perhaps not the same," Fleur said, frowning.

"What do you learn in it?" Hermione asked. "Maybe we have something similar."

"It iz a very advanced class," Juliette told Hermione. "It iz the study of mental magics. Memory charms, charms to influence opinions, magics to change the moods of people."

"Very dangerous spells are learned," Manon said, smirking. Her dark eyes glinted. "I 'ave 'eard it begins with an entire lesson and exam on personal responsibility and ethics for a month."

"More ethics?" Léa groaned. "We have ethics in everything."

"We have Legilimency?" Hermione said, considering. "That's the art of mind-reading. There's also Occlumency, the study of how to protect your mind. Those are probably the closest things we have? Though Legilimency is a highly restricted art."

Manon snorted. "Why?"

"Um. Presumably because it's very dangerous in the hands of the wrong person," Hermione said. "You can't have people just going around reading people's minds."

"Teach people to defend their minds, then," Manon said pointedly. "The type of person who would violate others is not likely to stop because something is 'ighly restricted."

"That's… fair," Hermione said cautiously. "So you would just teach everyone everything?"

"Why not?" Manon shrugged. "Better to learn 'ow to do it correctly under supervision than do it wrong and 'urt someone. And better to learn it alongside responsibility and ethics, to learn when it is appropriate to use or not."

Hermione felt a sense of déjà vu. It sounded uncannily like when she had learned Fiendfyre.

"Though Léa detests it, there iz a reason we 'ave ethics in so many classes," Juliette said, smiling a bit. "Beauxbâtons is proud of not just producing good witches and wizards, but producing good people."

Hermione considered this, looking down at her parchment thoughtfully. Fleur wrapped an arm around her, tugging into her side.

"What is the matter?" Fleur asked. "This is supposed to be exciting, is it not? And yet, you are pensive and sad."

"I'm not sad," Hermione objected. "It's just… this seems much better than how Hogwarts does it. If an evil Dark Lord does come around, everyone will be able to defend themselves, whereas my country will be sitting ducks."

The girls all exchanged wry looks.

"Just because we learn it does not mean everyone is good at it," Léa said.

"There was a reason Grindelwald did so much damage," Juliette said with a sigh. "With 'ope, we will do better next time."

"Please. If there is a new threat, Fleur will protect us all," Manon teased, eyes glinting. "La Gagnante du Printemps."

"'The Winner of Spring'?" Hermione said. She grinned at Fleur. "You won a whole season? In a duel?"

Fleur laughed.

"That is not quite what it means," she said, amused. "But yes, I did." Her eyes sparkled. "Maybe next term I shall win the autumn as well."

"Autumn is Spectacle Dueling," Manon warned, smirking. "You are prepared for that?"

Fleur laughed. "Do you think I am not?"

"Spectacle Dueling?" Hermione asked.

"Yes. It is different than Strike Dueling," Fleur said. She hummed. "It is not just until someone is defeated. You are awarded points in categories, for creativity, elegance, flourish, and so on. You earn a score to move on in the tournament."

"Much easier to just 'ex somebody," Manon said, rolling her eyes. "More realistic, certainly."

"You will need to keep your hair out," Juliette teased Fleur. "You cannot risk losing style points for an ugly color."

Hermione glanced at Fleur curiously, who grinned.

"I wore a dampener and a wig for the spring tournament," she said. She tossed her head. "I did not want it said that I won because of my Veela allure."

"You didn't tell me that!" Hermione exclaimed, shoving Fleur. "Well done, you!"

Fleur laughed, and Manon rolled her eyes.

"Arrête de te la péter," she snarked, and Hermione's eyes bulged.

"I'm sorry," she said incredulously, "but did you just tell Fleur not to fart?"

The girls, including Fleur, all dissolved into laughter.

"It is idiomatic," Fleur assured Hermione, amused. "It means… stop showing off. Stop bragging."

Hermione's mind boggled for a moment, before she shrugged.

"Well," Hermione said, eyes dancing, "if Fleur beat the rest of the school in dueling, it sounds like she's earned the right to fart about, then."

The girls dissolved into giggles and laughter again, this time, with Hermione joining them.

Beauxbatons encouraged extracurricular magical interests in a way Hogwarts did not. For Fleur to get permission to go off of the grounds, she had merely petitioned her professors for special permission for a field trip for magical research. They had looked at her grades, signed her request, and it had been sent to the Headmistress for final approval.

"And that's it?" Hermione repeated, astonished. "They just let you go?"

"I will have to submit an essay on what I learned," Fleur said, shrugging. "Or perhaps a project, depending which is more appropriate. I must show that I learned from my excursion, that it was not just for fun."

Hermione shook her head. "I wish Hogwarts did that."

Fleur shrugged elegantly. "Nobody has done an excursion to study Alchemy in many years. Madame Maxime told me that Perenelle is very excited. She does not often get to discuss her craft, I think. She is looking forward to meeting us."

"I'm glad for it," Hermione said, meaning it. "I don't know if she would have responded to a random letter from nobody written in English. Much better to leverage an existing connection."

"Much," Fleur agreed wryly.

Boys in the hallway continued to stare at Fleur as she and Hermione made their way back through the school to Madame Maxime's office. Fleur was holding Hermione's hand tightly, but there was a strained look about her face as she walked, now, a steely determination in her eyes and the tilt of her head. Her manner wasn't quite cold, precisely. She hadn't changed anything. But Fleur now seemed to emanate aloofness and untouchability, radiating an aura designed to keep the boys away.

Hermione and Fleur were stopped before going up a staircase, three boys cutting off their path. Fleur immediately took a step back, withdrawing her wand and stepping in front of Hermione as if to protect her. Hermione's eyes went wide at her sudden response, and the boy in the middle put his hands up, showing he was unarmed.

"We just want to talk," he said, his English heavily accented. "They are saying… they say you are paramours?"

"I fail to see how that is any of your business," Fleur snapped.

"It is only, with two lovely ladies as yourselves, it is a terrible thing to not have a man," another boy said, tripping on his words. "We selflessly offer ourselves for help."

Fleur's eyes narrowed. "We have no need of help."

Hermione subtly pulled out her own wand. Fleur's hands were changing, her nails lengthening into talons with sparks along the claws, and Hermione wondered if there was about to be a fireball fight. The prospect was oddly enticing; she'd be able to throw fireballs alongside Fleur now if necessary.

The third boy, apparently too impatient to attempt English, said something in French, his tone cajoling, suave. Fleur reacted with revulsion, rearing back, and her eyes flashed from blue to a dark, glowing amber.

"'ow dare you!" She snapped her wand at the boys, who rapidly stumbled backwards. "I will destroy you!"

The boys had their wands out now, shielding desperately as they attempted to retreat. Fleur's assault was merciless, though, spell after spell being sent after them. She seemed to be casting wordlessly - a litany of angry French poured from her mouth instead, her fury coming out in an angry rant rather than her pausing to bother using incantations.

The boys had sprouted ass' ears and tails, and they were sneezing slugs as they tried to protest, their sneezes coming out suspiciously like braying. They scampered away around a corner, shoving each other, and Fleur glared after them, her fingers itching to throw more hexes down the corridor.

"I cannot believe," she swore furiously. "The gall—"

"What did he say?" Hermione asked. "I couldn't follow—"

Fleur made a strangled, furious noise.

"It was very rude," she said. "It was a crude implication that because we lacked certain anatomy, he should provide it for us in the bedchamber."

Hermione was horrified, then revolted, then disgusted.

"That's awful. Do you really have to deal with such boys all the time?" she asked. "Do they always say such crude things?"

"Usually they attempt to romance me first," Fleur said. She was taking deep breaths, slowly and evenly, trying to calm herself down. "With you here, they must have thought the 'romancing' was already done and they did not need to try."

Hermione shook her head, disgusted.

"I wish I'd known what he'd said," she said. "I would have tried to hex off their bollocks instead of making them sneeze slugs."

Fleur snorted. A small look of amusement returned to her eyes, which were returning to blue.

"They were acting like asses, so I tried to turn them into asses," Fleur confided, smirking. "If I did well, they will find a grotesque horror in their trousers when they undress." Her eyes flashed. "I hope they are humiliated, when they need to ask for help to reverse the change."

Hermione was torn between perverse amusement at Fleur's revenge and a horrified wonder if the boys would be pleased to find larger equipment in their pants, regardless of how deformed and alien it looked.

"Well, less damaging than a fire fight," Hermione quipped. She smiled at Fleur, offering her hand. "I was ready, though."

"To fight with fire?" Fleur said, stepping forward and taking Hermione's hand. She began leading her up the stairs. "How?"

"I learned to throw fireballs," Hermione said. Fleur shot her an astonished look, and Hermione couldn't help but grin. "I wanted to be able to keep up with you, if we ever got into a fireball fight."

A wide smile cracked on Fleur's face, breaking through her fury.

"A fireball fight," she said, shaking her said. "As if it were naught but a snowball fight. As if it were a normal fight to have."

"Who cares about normal?" Hermione said, nudging Fleur. "You're undeniably special. Better to own it and make others cower from you as needed."

Fleur gave Hermione a small smile.

"Oui," she said.

"Yes?" Hermione said. "Yes to what?"

"No," Fleur said, smile playing about her lips. "Not oui. We."

"That's the same thing…?"

"We are special," Fleur said, lifting Hermione's hand. Her eyes were molten as she looked over their linked hands at Hermione, before pressing a soft kiss to Hermione's hand. "Not I. We."

Hermione's breath was suddenly caught in her throat.

"Yes, well," she said breathlessly. "That works too."

Fleur laughed, tugging Hermione further up the stairs.

"We must attend our excursion now," she said, determined. "We must visit Perenelle. And after, after the important business has been concluded, I intend to 'snog' you." She looked at Hermione, eyes mischievous. "This is the word in English, yes? 'Snogging'? For extended kissing?"

It was, Hermione thought, an excellent plan.