Hermione stood by the Black Lake by herself and stared at the thornless rose in her hands that Viktor had given her.
She was worried and could feel her heart feel lonely. Looking at it, she knew Viktor loved her to death but his love for her wasn't what worried her but the fact that he was going to leave her... soon.
When the year ended, all of the schools were going to go back to their own homeland. That meant that Viktor wasn't going to leave her whether the either of them liked it or not. She sighed and stared at the petals.
"He'll leave me," she said, taking a petal off.
She watched it as it dropped to the floor lightly before it was carried away by the wind of the Black Lake. It flew in the air for a moment like a dance which reminded her very much of her dancing with Viktor at the Yule Ball. She smiled at the memory until the petal landed without a splash onto the Black Lake. She stared at it. It looked so lonely...
"He'll leave me not," she said, taking another piece off.
She left it on her hand and watched as the wind carried it away as before. It landed on the Black Lake again, further away from the first one. That petal looked lonelier. She sighed and imagined how she would feel once Viktor left. She pushed the thought away.
"He'll leave me," she said, taking a piece off again.
She continued to do so until she was down to the last one, and every time she took a piece off she felt her heart grow lonelier and lonelier.
She stared at the last petal. It was lonely. All of the other petals had left it and now it was all alone. Hermione sighed and took a deep breath. She suddenly forgot which stage she had gotten to on 'he'll leave me, he'll leave me not.'. She stared at the petal harder, trying to remember where she got up to.
"Her-mio-ninny?" a deep baritone called out.
"Viktor?" she said, caught off guard.
She dropped her almost petal-less but Viktor managed to catch it with his seeker reflexes before it landed.
"Sorry to scare you," he said, chuckling. He stared at the almost petal-less rose. "Vhy is rose so lonely?" He looked into Hermione eyes and figured it out before she even said a word. He was a smart guy. "Vhy think about leaving you now?" he asked.
"Because... I don't know, I just feel so lonely already." she mumbled.
He grabbed her arms and pulled her towards him, her head rested against his chest. "I'll never leave you... maybe physically but you vill alvays be in my heart as I am in yours... I love you, Hermione, I vouldn't risk hurting you."
He took the almost petal-less rose from Hermione hand with one arm still around her waist then muttered a wand-less spell.
The petal-less rose, wasn't petal-less anymore. New petals appeared and suddenly, for some reason, Hermione didn't feel so lonely anymore.
"My gift to you," he said. "Don't lose it or get rid of the petals, it's like you are tearing my love off. It hurts to think about it."
She looked at him and nodded. She wasn't going to do it again.
He then kissed her and she smiled against his own smiling lips. He kissed her again and again then looked into her eyes.
"Are you cold?" he asked her. "You're shivering."
He took his Durmstrang cloak off and wrapped it around her shoulders.
"You look pretty in it, vant to keep it?" he asked.
"Your headmaster will kill me!" she said.
"I'll protect you," he said, winking. "I'll protect you from everything. Just keep the rose. Promise?"
"Promise," she said.
A/N One chapter fic. hope you like it.