Affliction

5

Hermione sighed loudly, puffing white dragon's breath onto her rapidly numbing fingers. She shuddered in the cold, hugging herself, wishing she'd brought the pair of gloves Mrs. Weasly had knitted for her, wished she hadn't been so shallow as to the horrid grungy orange color of them.

I swear, I get ever more frivolous as I grow older, she thought. And where the bloody hell is that infuriating Veela? I've been here for ten minutes!

Hermione was standing outside the Rosemary tavern, impatiently stomping her booted feet in the snow as even more of the freezing, elegant flakes floated from the gray blue sky, swirling peacefully down as the cold sun shone on.

The tavern was in Hogsmeade, a little less traveled by the Hogwarts students. It was more of a darker, serene place, as opposed to the brighter pubs in the middle of the happy village. The sign spelling Rosemary atop it was a rich, red mahogany, glossy in all its thick, blocky lettering. The glass was tinted dark, allowing any passerby to see only blurry, shadowy figures inside.

It was more of an 'adult' place, though younger people were not expressly forbidden from entering. The barmaid, Celia was a relatively lenient person about it. As long as the kids were quiet and did not disturb her older customers, she didn't even look twice at them.

Of course...If she did, they often went quiet very quickly. Two peculiar bright red eyes were enough to shut them up pretty quick.

Hermione stood alone as most of the other students were back towards her right, laughing and yelling joyfully as they played in the joke shops, overwhelmed the candy shops, all of the places the brunette wished she could have been. Or better yet, with Harry and Ron, warming her insides with butterbeer in one of the other pubs.

"Why does it have to be so bloody cold?" Hermione huffed, shuddering, pulling her beanie down tighter, covering her chilled ears.

Suddenly, Hermione yelped as strong, gentle arms wrapped around her body, pinning her own arms to her sides. The stranger squeezed her affectionately then swiftly released the squirming, startled brunette.

"Who the hell-" Hermione whirled only to be met with bright, merry blue twinkling eyes.

Fleur Delacour smiled winsomely down at the gaping brunette.

"You know, ma belle, you are still very sexy when you curse for some reason..."

Hermione abruptly shut her mouth, her already pink cheeks going crimson. She supposed she should have been thankful for the warm rush of blood to her face. It had all gone to her extremities in the frosty air.

The younger girl only stared so awestruck because Fleur was really beautiful today, more so than usual for some reason. Her already shining cerulean eyes were gleaming in the white light. She wore a thick but form clinging black jacket that looked to be made of some sort of velvet, leathery type material. She had the hood up over her head, and Hermione noted that it was lined in thick, white fur. Her hands were shoved into the pockets of the jacket and as the shorter girl gazed up at the gorgeous face before her, she couldn't help but notice how nice the contrast of Fleur's milky white skin was against the black jacket.

Not to mention Fleur's tighter than ever jeans fit quite nicely...

"Eyes up here, ma belle," Fleur grinned and Hermione suddenly remembered her surroundings.

"That was uncalled for. I told you this wasn't a date," the brunette snipped, avoiding those intense blue orbs.

"Ah, my apologies. You looked quite cold. I thought I would warm you up," Fleur rolled her eyes a bit.