Hermione Granger and the Time of her Life

Hermione Granger and the Time of her Life

Chapter 12: Heaven and Hell

Hermione woke up to a beautiful morning. She reached for Harry's arm, resting on her waist and sighed. Last night was...there were no words good enough to describe it. She turned to face him and discovered that he was still peacefully asleep, with Crookshanks on top of him. He could afford at least half an hour more of sleeping, so she got up carefully and proceeded to his bathroom. She was happier today than she had ever been in any previous moment of her life.

She took a quick shower and as she was drying her hair heard Harry moan.

"Hermione? Crookshanks! Get off!"

Hermione laughed as she left the bathroom.

"What's so funny?" Harry crossed his arms, still in bed.

"Nothing, except that Crookshanks has taken an evident liking to you." Hermione smiled.

"I uh, kind of noticed." Harry passed his hand through his hair awkwardly. He had never woken up next to a girl before, and this was not just any girl, this was Hermione, his best friend. And now, now she had become more than that. Of course, he didn't mind. Not in the least.

"Not to mention you've taken his side of the bed." Hermione hopped on the mattress next to Harry, who smiled, kissing her softly.

"Good morning," he whispered.

"Hi."

****

After a glorious morning and an excellent wake up call, Harry and Hermione made their way to breakfast, now holding hands. They would've made their way automatically to the Gryffindor table, but something at the Ravenclaw table immediately caught their eyes.

Fleur was sitting on a bench, away from the rest of the students. Worse, she didn't have any make-up on and, even worse, she was reading...a book! What was wrong with this? This type of behavior certainly wasn't normal for Hermione's French friend. Hermione was the first to comment:

"Something wrong with this picture?" She glanced at Harry.

"Yep. There's Fleur, without make up, reading," Harry answered her.

"That's what I thought," said Hermione. "Wait a minute...there's something missing..."

"Wood!" Harry and Hermione said in unison and made their way towards the blonde part-Veela.

"Hi," Hermione greeted her friend cheerfully. Fleur jumped at her words, spilling her mug of pumpkin juice all over the book.

"Oh crap!" she protested, but Hermione already had her wand out.

"Taken care of." She muttered a quick cleansing spell and the book was as good as new. Fleur just smiled thinly.

"Can we sit down?" Harry asked.

"You're already 'ere, aren't you?" Fleur spat, immediately noticing her rude behavior and quickly putting a fake smile on her face. " I'm sorry. I didn't sleep well last night. Of course you can join me."

"Something wrong?" Hermione sat down by her side, concern shadowing her face.

"Why would you 'zink 'zat?" Fleur asked as casually as she could, doing her best to hide her gloomy mood, but failing miserably.

"Well, you're not wearing any make-up for starters, you're hardly eating, no surprise there though," Hermione admitted. Fleur wasn't much of an eater. She kept on claiming that Hogwarts food was too heavy. "And you're alone, reading."

"Okay, I didn't sleep well last night, so I got up after curfew and I didn't 'ave time for make-up if I wanted to make it for breakfast and I'm too nervous to eat because I 'ave to take a Potions exam today," Fleur said quickly.

"If you say so," said Hermione disbelievingly, obviously not buying a single word.

"Now, if you excuse me, I 'ave to get to class." Fleur stood up. Hermione glanced at the big Great Hall clock. It said: "Breakfast time." There was no class yet, but before she could stop Fleur, she had literally stormed out of the Great Hall.

Fleur certainly wasn't going to class yet. She had to take care of something first. She went to Madame Hooch's office and knocked softly.

"Bonjour, Madame 'Ooch," Fleur smiled kindly as the office's door opened.

"Hello Fleur. What can I do for you? Sit down, sit down!" Madame Hooch was all too happy to receive her, but Fleur's news weren't all too pleasant.

"Well, I'm afraid I'm 'ere to quit 'ze Ravenclaw Quidditch team," Fleur answered.

"What? Why?"

"Madame 'Ooch, I 'ave somezing to confess. I never played Quidditch before now. I only entered because..."

"I know. I've always known." Fleur was speechless at Madame Hooch's words.

"You 'ave? Why didn't you say anyzing? Why did you allow me on 'ze team 'zen?"

"Because I didn't want to take away your motivation. I know that they don't have a Quidditch team at Beauxbatons, but you wanted to play so badly that I decided to give you a chance. I don't regret it. You're one of the best chasers I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. Davies and Wood think the same."

"Yes, Wood." Fleur felt her heart sting at the mention of his name. " 'Ze 'zing is 'zat..."

"Personal problems?"

"You could say 'zat."

"See, I don't think you should quit. You shouldn't waste away your talent just because the outcomes didn't come as you expected, life is like that."

"You know what? You're right. Plus, it will serve as a distraction," Fleur determined.

"That's the spirit!"

" 'Zanks Madame 'Ooch." Fleur stood up.

"No problem sweetie. Have a good day."

Fleur sighed, gathering up her book bag. Somehow, Madame Hooch had made her feel a whole lot better.

However, the feeling didn't last long, for seconds later, there was a second knock on the door.

Fleur stopped dead in her tracks as she saw Oliver Wood entering the office.

"Morning profess..." Oliver was silent when he saw Fleur, beautiful as always.

Fleur gave him a cold look before brushing past him.

"Morning Captain," she said coldly, so as not to concern Madame Hooch, and strolled towards the door.

"Chaser," Oliver responded as Fleur closed the door.

"Wood? Wood!" Madame Hooch's screeches brought Oliver back to reality.

"What?" said Oliver, his voice a little altered and higher than he had meant to.

"What is it?"

Oliver then realized that he had forgotten why he had come to Madame Hooch's office in the first place. He rubbed his eyes, sighing in frustration.