Flower of the Heart

Hermione looked into Fleur's face for a moment. She was really worried. What if Fleur didn't believe her? What if Fleur got angry? Well, of course she will be angry...how could she not be? 'This is going to be a lot harder then I thought' Hermione told herself.

"Hermione?" said Fleur again. "Well, what do you need to tell me?" Fleur was feeling nervous. What would Hermione need to tell her? Especially something that's this difficult for her to say.

Hermione took a deep breath and looked straight into Fleur's eyes. "It's about what happened between you and Ron." Fleur stared at Hermione with a disbelieving look on her face. She couldn't believe Hermione actually had the nerve to talk about her and Ron. She wanted to get up and leave, but something about the urgancy in Hermione's voice made her stay put. But that didn't stop her from glowering at her as she continued.

"You see, Fleur..." Hermione started,"the whole thing is sort of my fault."

"Your fault? How is it your fault?" said Fleur. "It's not your fault Ron sent me that stupid letter-"

"Oh, but it is my fault," Hermione interrupted. She was still nervous, so she had to get this over with as fast as she could. "You see, Ron didn't send you that letter." She swallowed hard. Fleur's eyes were riddled with an unreadable expression. Anger? Curiosity? Disbelief? "I did."

There was a long pause in which Hermione stared at the ground and Fleur stared at Hermione. Finally, Fleur broke the silence.

"Ridiculous," she said, waving her hand. "How could you have sent the letter? It was in Ron's handwriting. It had been signed by Ron. Why would you tell me such a thing? Ron put you up to it didn't he?" That last sentence was filled with a mixture of hope and satisfaction. A small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. "He wants me back. He screwed up, he realises it, and he sent one of his friends over with a cock-and-bull story so that they get the blame and I get back together with him. Well, I'll tell you it's not going to work, so I suggest you leave before you waste your time."

Fleur walked over to the door and opened it. She bowed and gracefully moved her hand twords the opening, inviting Hermione to walk out. But Hermione stood her ground. She wasn't leaving until Fleur understood what she had done. She wasn't going anywhere until Fleur was ready to make up with Ron.

"I'm not trying to feed you some...er...'cock-and-bull' story," said Hermione, trying to make 'cock-and-bull' sound as dignified and serious as she could. "What I'm telling you is the truth. And I'm not leaving here until you hear me out and understand what truly happened!" She glared at Fleur with eyes full of a fiery passion. Fleur stared back, then, slowly, closed the door and walked back to her seat.

"Alright, Hermione, you have won my attention," she said. "Go ahead."

Hermione began telling Fleur what happened. She didn't bother trying to make herself sound justified because she knew she wasn't. She just explained as calmy as she could what she'd done and why she'd done it. At the end there was another long pause, except that this time they both looked at eachother. Then Fleur snorted, breaking the silence for the second time.

"Oh, yeah Hermione," Fleur said sarcastically. "You can imitate Ron's script perfectly. Come off it, I know you're faking it. This is some trick you and Ron came up with together. I mean, it would be almost believeable if you hadn't been the one to break up with him in the first place. Also, if you truly think I'm falling for the 'I thought I had a crush on Serverus Snape, but then I realised my true love for my precious Ron' part, you're very mistaken." She shook her head and smiled slightly. "Nice try, Hermione. Tell Ron I said he should be a writer."

Hermione frowned. "I'm not telling Ron anything. You do it yourself. Besides, I'm telling you, I'm not lying! You can ask Serverus yourself if it will make you feel better. When have you known me to lie?"

"I don't know, Hermione," said Fleur. "I don't really know you that well at all." She grinned. But then she caught the look on Hermione's face and stopped. "Listen, Hermione," she said seriously,"I really appriciate that you care this much about your friend, and that you're willing to make yourself look bad for his sake. That's a very selfless thing to do and I respect you greatly for it. But I know that that's all it is. You're just trying to help out Ron. And this is something between me and him. It should stay that way."

Hermione looked ready to kill. "Oh for god's sakes, open your eyes woman!" she suddenly burst out as she took Fleur's shoulders and shook them violently. She stopped shaking her but continued to yell. "How many times do I have to tell you that this isn't something that I could have just made up?! I'm telling you, we're in love with the same guy! I copied his handwriting! I wrote the letter! I put it under the door! And I kept him from talking to you! How much proof do you need?!"

She stared furiously at Fleur and took heavy breaths. Fleur sat there looking very startled and not a little frightened. Her hair was tangled and frizzed and her hands were partially in front of her turned face. She peered at Hermione from one eye and said,"How much proof do I need? Rewrite the letter Ron sent me. In his handwriting. Then I'll compare it, and if it's a perfect match...then I'll believe you."

Hermione felt warm relief spread from her heart to her fingertips. 'This won't be so hard after all,' she thought to herself. Finally, this was something she could do. She had always had a good memory, and so she still remembered how to write his handwriting as well as exactly what she had written. Who knew Fleur would want such a simple task to prove she wasn't lying?

Hermione took the quill and parchement from Fleur's hands feeling considerably better. She put the quill to the parchement and began to write in Ron's handwriting:

Dear Fleur,

I'm dreadfully sorry my dear, but I'm afraid I have to break up. I'm not as intrested in you as I was before. Sorry, you just don't thrill me anymore. Don't talk to me or say anything to anyone, I'm not intrested. Toodles.

-Ron

"Not bad," said Fleur when Hermione had finished. "Let's see if it passes the test."

She took the letter she had gotten under her door and held it up next to the one Hermione had just written. Fleur examined it closely for what felt like forever to Hermione. Then, Fleur smiled.

"Perfect match," Fleur said happily. She beamed at Hermione." Though, I must say, your letter shows no signs of writing talent. I don't know why I ever fell for it, I mean, it's so unrealistic." Then, without warning, Fleur burst into tears and threw herself around Hermione's neck. "Th-thank you so much for b-being honest with me," she sobbed into Hermione's shoulder. "I'm so glad R-ron didn't turn out to be the t-t-type of man who would w-write a letter like this! I'm s-so s-sorry I didn't l-l-listen to you the first time." She straightened up and slowly calmed down. After blowing her nose she continued,"You don't know how happy I am. I love Ron so much."

Hermione patted Fleur's shoulder. 'So do I,' she thought to herself. Out loud she said,"You're not mad at me?"

"Well, I'm not delighted with you," Fleur said, smiling once more. "But telling me took a lot of courage, and I truly respect you for that. Especially since you love Ron too."

"How did you know that?" said Hermione without thinking.

Fleur looked at her in disbelief. "Remember just now when you were screaming at me and you told me 'we're in love with the same guy'?" she asked Hermione. "Yeah, well, that's how I know."

"Oh, right," said Hermione sheepishly. Then they both giggled a little and Hermione suddenly remembered. "Fleur! You need to go make up with Ron!"

"Oh my god, I almost forgot about that part!" Fleur said jumping to her feet. "Does Ron already know?" she added quickly.

"Yes, I told him right before I came to tell you," Hermione said just as fast. "Go on, then!"

"Wish me luck," Fleur said heading for the door.

"Luck?" asked Hermione. "What do you need luck for? The man already loves you!"

"Oh yeah...well, talk to you later!" Fleur replied and she flew out the door forgetting all about her unbrushed hair.