Chapter Text
The bang of an impact sounded before she felt pain. She just backed away from the metal wall. The books and backpack strewn across the floor just made her sigh, just another normal day in Hermione Granger's life.
"Get out of the way, freak." Cho's voice sounded mocking and angry at the same time.
"She's not worth your time, Cho." Percy said, rolling his eyes at the brunette. "Such a loser." He spoke in a disgusted tone and pulled his girlfriend away by the hand. Hermione just sighed and bent down, picking up the US History book that had fallen near her feet.
"A bunch of idiots." Seamus snorted approaching, reaching down and helping Hermione. "Are you okay there, Herm?" He asked gently, putting the things he'd gathered into Hermione's backpack, which had ripped open just beside the zipper.
"Shit." Hermione spoke looking at the tear and sighing. "I'm fine, Fi. How are you doing? Looks like Mr Snape's chemistry class has been blown up again?" She spoke lightly when she saw that his shirt was slightly scorched.
"Oh no, that was from earlier today. I was burning some papers for Mom and one of them flew up and stuck to me." He spoke with disdain and grinned at her. "I can discreetly set those idiots on fire for you." They were cut off with the sound of something hitting the ground.
"Well, that has a hit 3, better not." Padma bent down and picked up the 20 sided dice she had dropped on the floor.
"So I can’t set the idiots on fire?" He asked, confused.
"You can’t be discreet, your stealth is low, Seamus." She spoke as if it were obvious.
"It really doesn't seem like a wise idea, better not." Hermione spoke with a smile. "But I appreciate the intent." She spoke kindly. "Come on, let's go to class, our second period is starting soon and I don't want to be late." She spoke honestly and Seamus grinned, throwing an arm over Hermione's shoulder.
"Later I’ll get your bag, I have a free period and I can go to the sewing shop, Miss Trelawney usually lets me hang around and I can get it fixed for you." Padma spoke with a sweet smile and Hermione nodded.
"Thank you so much, Pad. How is your sister?" Hermione asked, knowing that Parvati hadn't been home for a while, as the young woman chose to pursue an early military career, she went to study at a military school.
"Insane as ever, she's studying to move up the ranks and maybe join an air force pilot." Padma said, rolling her eyes. "How crazy." She said, circling her finger around her ear. "But she is super happy and mama and papa are super proud." She shrugged and smiled slightly.
"Damn, that's impressive, I wish I had the focus that Parvati and Hermione have." Seamus spoke honestly. "Oh! I started training to try to get into the fire department next year." He spoke happily and the two friends made an excited sound.
"This is amazing, Fi! You will be a great firefighter!" Padma spoke visibly happily and Hermione nodded.
"Thanks Pad." He spoke with a wide smile. "I won't be that much of a source of pride when compared to Hermione. Our future valedictorian and her perfect GPA." He teased his friend with caring, he was after all very proud of her.
"It's not perfect, it's a work in progress." She spoke rolling her eyes and the two friends snorted.
"Hermione, you've maintained a GPA of 4.8 for all your school years, you even plan to go up to 4.9 this year, you only keep the core subjects, the rest is all AP." Padma said, rolling her eyes and huffing, which made Hermione blush slightly.
"You helped me study, my GPA went up because of you, don't sell yourself short. You will be our Valedictorian for sure." Seamus spoke confidently and smiled broadly. “We are proud!” And she just blushed and shrugged, with that they pulled apart, each one going to their classes. Padman and Hermione enter the Chemistry class and Seamus walked to his Science/BIology.
Hermione sighed knowing it was going to be a long week, it was the second week of classes and the troupe of evil clowns had already seen the young brunette early in the day.
She has always been over-sighted by Ronald, Percy, William and Cho. The three Weasley siblings didn't like her, well, none of the many redhead siblings liked her. And because Cho was dating Percy, she didn't like Hermione either, pack thinking as Padma called. Something the brunette never understood, as she saw herself as harmless to the higher food chain of popularity. She wanted to survive in school, get into a good college and make her mom proud. It didn't seem like much to ask, but apparently it was.
She was actually honestly grateful that only these four were taking aim at her, usually - and apart from a few sneering glances and jokes - Hermione was mostly invisible, something she liked at a private school like this. Being there with a scholarship and being one of the highest-rated students at the school was visible enough for her.
For the brunette, life was naturally not easy, with her financial situation difficult and her mother working two jobs to keep what they had. She was grateful, very grateful. So she swallowed the bullying hard and just tried to survive her final year of school. After all, studying robotics engineering at Ivy League University wouldn't be free and she wanted a full scholarship, just so she could ease her mother's worried mind.
*********
The sound of a body colliding against metal made Fleur jump slightly. She was bored, leaning against her locker, pretending to listen to William Weasley blather about something he'd done over the weekend.
It wasn't that Bill wasn't a nice guy, but he was totally not Fleur's type. The blonde liked the petite type of brunette person with brown eyes, curly hair, and round glasses - which could have been prettier frames - who had just been pushed firmly against the school lockers.
"What is it?" William asked, frowning and putting himself definitively in front of Fleur's field of vision.
"I don't like the bullying your siblings do to Hermione." She spoke honestly and again the redhead frowned and scratched his beard in confusion.
"Who is Hermione?" He spoke looking over his shoulder and the frown deepened when he saw the brunette. "The Granger weirdo?" He spoke confusedly.
"Don't call her that!" Fleur snapped back and he cocked his head to the side looking like a confused dog.
"I don't understand why bothering that weirdo makes you so unhappy, she is so weird." He said with a shrug.
"She's the best student in the school." Fleur snapped and then felt an arm go over her shoulder.
"Hey Weasley, get the fuck out of here, I want to talk to my girl Fleur." Angelina sounded firm and winked at the blonde as the two looked at each other. "Shoo, shoo, girl talk, I need to borrow a tampon." She spoke and he turned absolutely red and left muttering something in a sullen tone. "Always works." Angelina spoke with amusement.
"Geez…Thanks. He's annoying." Fleur spoke honestly.
"Usually cis gender male athletes are." The tall, dark woman spoke in amusement. "So when are you going to work up the courage to talk to Hermione?" She asked out of nowhere and Fleur felt herself shudder at the thought which made the book she was holding slip and fall to the floor.
"Damn it!" The blonde bent down and picked up the book quickly. "Fuck, Angie, you know I-" She was cut off.
"Have been in love with Hermione since our sophomore year.” She spoke rolling her eyes and Fleur sighed.
"Do you mind speaking more quietly?" The blonde grumbled.
"Do you feel ashamed?" Angie asked, confused and quite honest.
"No... I just... I don't know if she'd like me back, if she likes girls, what would that be like... I don't want to be rejected without even having a chance to say something to her myself. I don't want her to know about this in the school's ridiculous gossip network." Fleur spoke awkwardly and Angelina's eyebrows shot up in surprise but she nodded. With that the two started to walk to the Science/BIology class which they shared.
"She is cool." Angie sounded out of nowhere and Fleur looked confused at her friend. "Hermione, she's nice. She helped me last year with Physics, she's really really smart and made everything look really easy. I went from a C to a B+ so she's in my good books even though the tutoring wasn't her decision but it was Professor Lupin's. Although she helped me willingly and she was nice to me and all. I don't think she'd be as horrible as you think she could be..." Angie spoke softly.
"I know she wouldn't be..." She spoke honestly and the two sat down in class.
And indeed Fleur Delacour knew that Hermione was a kind soul. They'd studied together their whole lives, and honestly Fleur was popular and always surrounded by people, she hadn't noticed Hermione as anything other than the very smart girl who eagerly raised her hand to answer the teachers' questions. Which she found cute and exhausting at the same time. But still admirable, she admired the brunette's dedication and intelligence.
But no, that's not what caught Fleur's attention at first. One day, in the second year of school, the blonde was walking home. A quiet but long walk, but she didn't really care.
She heard some noises coming from a tree across the street and curiosity took over the blonde, she stopped to see what was happening. And when she realized there was Hermione. Barely holding on to one of the branches, with a small cat clinging to her, literally drawing blood from the brunette's shoulder.
But Hermione lowered the frightened animal down, with a gentle smile and small pats on the animal's back. She walked over to a nearby little girl and handed over the startled kitten. And that was cute.
Suddenly Fleur found herself noticing Hermione everywhere. Not only in the classes they shared together, because that always happened. Sometimes the brunette was sitting on the bleachers reading, and especially when someone was mean to her. Fleur saw it and felt her heart tighten. She tried to use the influence she had to make people stop being cruel. But it was still difficult. But the bigger point, Hermione started from fascination, to crush, and finally to teenage love. Fleur was very fond of Hermione even though she knew she didn’t know the girl very well.
And that realization made the blonde finally understand she was a lesbian and honestly, she freaked out a little bit. Convinced her parents wouldn't accept it — even before they were divorced and the demands on her were still minor — and afraid of how Hermione would react. The blonde was honestly a bit of a coward, if she was honest. Hidden in her own fear, as Katie said a few times.
Afraid to come out of the closet, to tell her feelings to Hermione, to admit to her parents that she didn't want law or medicine but photography, the often brave blonde when being thrown up at sporting events since she was a flyer in the cheerleaders squad, she found herself cringing in fear of the reaction of the parents and of Hermione.
She hated feeling like a coward, even if she was one. But she didn't quite know how to speak or what to do. Unfortunately for the blonde, she had a certain reputation for being 'an easy catch' which she really wasn't. Fleur was proudly a virgin and she wanted to lose her virginity the right way. But that didn't stop rumors from running rampant. In the eyes of the school she had a new boyfriend every month and was someone super easy to get into bed.
Fleur's day was good, she enjoyed the photography class she would have after lunch and also she could catch a glimpse of Hermione walking from class to class during the afternoon. But the blonde's favorite day this school year was Friday, not only because it was the last day of school of the week, but especially because she would be spending all three morning classes with Hermione, well not really with the brunette, but sharing class with her.
"Okay students, we have a project for our AP Literature course this year." Mrs Hesenban spoke with a wide smile on her face. Fleur liked the teacher, she was younger and had good teaching skills and the blonde liked literature. "I will put everyone's name here, the students will draw until I reach the middle of the third row, that is half the room and as soon as everyone is paired, these pairs will be for the whole year and no I don't want to hear complaints about it, blame your luck. This half of the class will draw and then you sit next to each other and all the assignments and class arrangements for the year will be done in pairs." She spoke and approached one of the boys in the corner.
"Can we be that lucky ehm, Fleur?" Bill spoke with a wink, in what he must have found sexy, but it only made the blonde roll her eyes. But the blonde wasn't paying attention, as the teacher walked over to the second row and second desk, where Hermione was.
Hermione didn't mind working in a group, she just rooted for someone she could work with.
"Fleur Delacour." The teacher's voice sounded loud and the blonde's heart stopped slightly. She looked at Hermione in mild shock and swallowed hard.
The brunette frowned at the shocked look of the school's "princess", she knew very little about Fleur, apart from of course the rumors that were floating around the school about the blonde. Hermione tried not to believe what everyone said about her, but it was a little difficult considering her reputation as an 'easy slut'... But Fleur seemed like a good student, had a consistent GPA and the gossip that got around was that she wanted to be a lawyer.
"Oh boy." Katie spoke next to Fleur and winked at her best friend in amusement. Fleur glanced at the green-eyed brunette and then turned to Hermione, who had turned her eyes to the open book on the table. The table next to the brunette was emptied and Fleur thought about moving her things to it.
"Okay boys and girls, pack your bags, sit with your pair and let's get started.” Fleur quickly did what the teacher said. “Our books this year will be in order: Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad and The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne." The teacher then began to write the names of the books on the blackboard.
"Have you read any of them?" Fleur asked quietly, breaking the silence softly.
"I've read almost all of them except Beloved." Hermione spoke honestly and shrugged. "And what about you?" she asked politely.
"I really enjoyed The Crucible and The Scarlet Letter, but I haven't read the others yet, so I'm excited for that." Fleur whispered and the brunette looked at her slightly surprised but nodded.
"Then we will work in pairs, but we will do individual tests." The teacher spoke and there was a collective chorus from the rest of the class. "Oh, poor things, you're going to be fine." She cut the whimper. "Arrange yourself however you want but know that I will not switch pairs and your grades will depend on how well you work together. Deal with it." The brown haired woman spoke with a shrug and then proceeded to hand a copy of each book to each pair. "You will share the books so decide how you want to do it." She spoke and sat in her own chair, giving the students freedom to talk to each other.
"Can you start? I imagine you're a faster reader than I am..." Fleur said awkwardly.
"I like doodling in books, I don't know if that would be appreciated…" Hermione spoke honestly.
"Not a problem, it will be nice to have your thoughts guide me through the reading, especially the tedious parts." The gentle tone surprised the brunette who just nodded.
"If you're sure..." She spoke uncertainly and the blonde nodded quickly, the two didn't talk much, since no one knew for sure what the classes would be like. They then organized a schedule about reading the books, and they programmed that each one would have a month to read the book at a time and of course if they finished earlier, the better.
"Hey, it's going to be nice working with you, I'll pop into my locker to get my English textbook." The blonde spoke quickly and blushed when Hermione smiled faintly and nodded.
Hermione for her part was surprised that the blonde was so nice to her, she imagined that Bill's girlfriend, well supposedly girlfriend, would be rude to her and not like her. But contrary to what she imagined, Fleur was being nice.
In English class they sat in their usual seats, at the back of the room was Fleur with Hannah and Hermione sat in the front with Padma, who handed over the brunette's backpack, much to her friend's gratitude.
*********
"How do you feel having the annual project with her?" Katie asked as she helped Fleur stretch for practice.
"I don't know what you're talking about..." Fleur covered up and her best friend rolled her eyes.
"My love, you told me you like her, remember?" She spoke as if it were obvious and Fleur blushed.
"I'm nervous, I want to make a good impression..." She said shyly.
"You would never make a bad impression, Fleur." Katie said, rolling her eyes and then it was Fleur's turn to help the brunette stretch her muscles.
"I don't know… I feel so nervous around her, and she's so smart, it's ridiculous." Fleur grumbled and Katie smiled.
"She seems like a nice person, I don't know why people tease her so much." Katie spoke honestly. "At least they aren't being so cruel anymore." It made both women shudder as they remembered what had happened during their second year.
"God, thank goodness, no one deserved that." Fleur spoke quietly and then Coach Hooch called everyone and they started running across the field to continue the warm-up.
Hermione in turn had walked home right after lunch, she didn't want to bother her mother with food as she knew that at four in the afternoon the woman would go to her second job and the brunette wanted above all that she rested.
They lived in a small apartment downtown, she and her mother. The place had only two bedrooms, a single bathroom and a kitchen. There was no elevator, so religiously Hermione had to climb three flights of stairs to get home.
The light brown door had the number 33 on it, one of them was a little crooked and Hermione patiently put the number back in the right position, thinking she should fix it in a more definitive way as soon as possible. Silently she opened the door and upon entering the house the extremely silent black and white cat approached and promptly rubbed itself against Hermione's leg. The cat that the two women had adopted two years ago. The kitten that had lost one of his eyes was very affectionate and quiet, and especially kept Hermione very friendly company on the lonely days her mother overworked.
"Hey Eyed, how are you today?" She asked, picking up the cat in her arms and petting his head as she went to the kitchen. "Is Mama home?" She asked softly and the cat made a tiny meow, and just purred, tucking his face against Hermione's chin. "I know boy, I know." She said scratching the cat's ear. She arrived in the kitchen and verified that the cat had food and water and then she moved into the living room.
The house started directly in the living room, faced the back of the sofa and the television was visible from there. The wall directly next to the door had several pictures of Hermione and her mother and that always made the younger brunette smile. If there was anyone she loved deeply and loved her back, it was her mother.
Hermione sat on the couch in the living room, which was a dark red color, an old couch that the family had renovated a few years ago so it was very comfortable. She took off her sneakers and placed them under the coffee table, propping her feet up on the beanbag they'd bought last year. She turned the television on low volume, allowing herself to relax and watch the cooking show. It wasn't any big show or so, she only wanted to spend some time relaxing, since she knew that soon her mother would wake up and she wanted to be able to have a small meal with her and then study after she left for her second job.
About an hour passed, Hermione and Eyed lay on the couch and were hugging each other while a light sleep took over the brunette's body. But brown eyes popped open when the sound of her mother's bedroom door opened. She got up on her elbows and smiled at the mass of messy hair, a little darker than hers, and she smiled at her mother.
"Hey mama, how was your day?" Hermione asked with a slight smile and the woman, still tired, smiled at her daughter.
"Shrimp, how are you? My day was good, the bakery shift was smooth, we made bread, cookies and I brought home a chocolate focaccia." She said smiling. "Come on kid, let's get something to eat and talk, tell me about your day." The mother spoke sweetly and the two sat at the small kitchen table and talked over a mug of coffee with a piece of sweet bread she had brought from work that morning.
At three-thirty the mother kissed Hermione's forehead and moved on to her second job. One that Hermione liked, the night job was at a bookstore-café where she could go read while she waited for her mother to leave work.
They had arranged that Hermione would go there next at seven o'clock to study at the cafe and come home with her mother at ten o'clock so they could spend some more time together.
The sound of the car pulling away from the building made Hermione sigh and go take a shower. She had a book schedule and would like to finish Beloved as soon as possible to give the book to Fleur. She was still a little unsure about being the blonde's school partner, but she was Hermione Granger, she would handle it.
********
Fleur finished training and was exhausted, she just wanted to get home as soon as possible. She was a little anxious about the possibility of working the school year with Hermione and that was something that made her not just a little, but really, really anxious.
She liked the brunette so much, but she knew she didn't know the brunette that well. A small part of her felt that she might get to know Hermione and decide she hated her. But then there was the cat scene, her helping Angelina, her being nice to a lot of people who ignored her, she was kind and visibly devoted. Fleur desperately wanted to get closer to the brunette, but she still didn't know how to do that.
"Hey sweetie, want a ride?" Bill's voice rang out and Fleur closed her eyes and snorted.
"No, I have my own car, William." She answered and walked straight past him.
"AH, Fleur, come on! Give me a chance!" He spoke and approached her.
"I don't want to go out with you." She cut him off and he grunted and walked away annoyed.
"We will talk tomorrow." He spoke angrily and walked away completely.
"Finally, peace." Fleur spoke to herself and heard the small sound of something burning in the parking lot. She saw Seamus Finnigan running out between cars and a dumpster on fire. She sighed at the smell of burning garbage and rolled her eyes.
"Every week with this." She heard the janitor screaming at the fire and looking for Seamus, but failing to find the boy. When Fleur was questioned she shrugged it off and claimed she hadn't seen anyone.
Seamus was a little crazy and wild, but Fleur knew he was very protective of Hermione. and also like him, Fleur didn't like the big dumpster there was at school. Not after what had happened.