Tri-Wizard Tournament year

Yule Ball

Viktor smiled at her as the two danced together in the center of the room with everybody watching them. For once, he didn't care about the millions of faces watching him in awe. He was dancing and together with Hermione, and that was all that mattered. Nothing was going to spoil his night with her today.

"Hermi-own?" He said, cringing slightly at the mispronunciation. "Are you enjoying your effening?"

She giggled with a small smile as he spun her around, treating her like the young lady she was.

"Yes, very much so" she said as she half faced him from the turn. She looked at him in the eyes. "Thank you for asking me to the ball. I didn't think anyone would ask me, looking hideous like I am"

He stared at her with a surprised expression and brought her closer to him and slowed his clumsy dancing movements. "You look hideous?" he said, as if what she had just said was the most ludicrous thing in the whole entire world. "I don't think you knowing Herm-io-ninny, but I vant to tell you for a very long time. Ha-How beautiful you are today. You alvays vere"

Hermione stared at him, this time, surprised. Her mouth was open in a perfect shape of an 'o' and they stopped dancing for a moment. She did anyway.

Viktor started to feel dread. Had he said something wrong? She was responding to him and was standing too still for comfort. "Her-mio-nin-iny?" he said, extremely nervous and worried now. "I am sorry if I have offended you in anyvay"

She suddenly laughed at him and started to dance, getting him to move along with her. "No, no" she said, her smile returning. "You haven't offended me. It's just that, I have never been told that I was beautiful from anyone else apart from my parents. And, wow, that has to be the longest you have ever spoken in English. It was beautiful"

He smiled back at her and ignored the girls who were dragging their partners along with them to get closer to him and Hermione. They were all trying to have a look at him and see how he was going on with Hermione.

After a while, he realized that it wasn't just the girls who were trying to get closer to him. The boys were too for different reasons. Their eyes had finally been opened after Hermione dressed the way she was today. They were trying to get to Hermione.

Feeling a sudden protective urge over her, he pulled her closer to him and scowled at the other men in the room.

An hour later, the two were both tired from dancing and were in dire need of a drink.

"You are hot" he said, when he noticed that she was sweating and was having a hard time breathing.

"What?" she said, looking surprised at his choice of 'words'.

He blushed. "Na- No!" he said. "I mean, you are sveating, you must be feeling... too... very varm?"

She laughed. "I know what you mean" she said. "It was just surprising to hear you say that"

He reluctantly let go of her and suddenly felt like anyone could come and grab her for a dance now that she wasn't in his arms. But he couldn't hold onto her forever, she would have to move about of course. He scowled for a moment but let his scowl go as a thought came to him. "I vill get us some punch? Are you thirsty?" he said.

She nodded. "Yeah, now that you've mentioned it"

"I vill be right back then"

He walked away with a smile hidden under his scowling demeanor. Dancing with Hermione was probably one of the best things that had ever happened to him in his whole entire life.

The first was when he first flew on a broom. It had been an amazing experience, it was like he was alive for the first time. The second was when he caught his first snitch in his first real game. It had been amazing, a gust of life had hit him hard then. The third was when his eyes met Hermione... No. Actually, seeing Hermione for the first time was the first. She was even more beautiful than any of his Quidditch experiences. The fourth was when she accepted his invitation. So dancing with her was his fifth.

He quickly got some drinks and ignored the girls and few boys who were begging for his autograph. If it hadn't been for a very pissed off Professor Snape, he probably would have been attacked by now.

He made his way as fast as he could over to where he had left Hermione, only to find that she wasn't there.

His heart dropped with a thud and he suddenly couldn't breath. A horror of a thought came to him. Had she accepted somebody else as a dance partner while he had gone off to get her a drink?

He waited for about five minutes to make sure that she hadn't left him. She could have gone to the toilet...

Another five minutes went and he frowned. Where was she?

He spotted the Potter and the red haired boy she was always with. The red haired boy who seem to like her more than just a friend. He could tell by his behavior and the way he looked at her.

He made his way over to them and mumbled something about 'Have you seen Hermione'. He didn't want to start a full conversation with the two.

Luckily, neither seemed to be in the mood. Potter kept looking over towards... Cho Chang, and the red haired boy was glaring towards a direction of the room.

Viktor scowled again and walked off towards Aleksander Petrov and Dimitar-Martin Hristov who had just been ditched by their dance partners, who had gone off to dance with the Beauxbaton students.

"The stupid French frogs" Aleksander muttered in Russian (Everybody who attended Durmstrang learnt Russian since most of the students who attended were from the Soviet Union). "They keep taking everybody else's dance partners"

"Where did your pretty girl go?" Dimitar-Martin asked in Bulgarian, which Aleksander understood slightly. "Did the French fries take her?! From VIKTOR KRUM TOO!?"

Viktor suddenly felt disgusted and wondered if maybe that had happened. He growled furiously until he remembered the direction that the red haired boy had looked at.

His eyes had been furious but deep inside, Viktor saw something else. It had been love. Hermione had left in that direction.

He muttered 'See you tomorrow' and left his two friends and made his way out of the hall. As he did, he realized that neither Potter or red head were where they had been. He walked out of the hall and turned left to find what he had been looking for.

Hermione lay on the stairs and had her arms covering her face. Seeing her posture, she was crying.

What had he done to upset her? She had been alright when he had gone to get themselves drinks... He suddenly realized what was wrong. It had been the red head boy. The youngest one.

"Her-mio-ninny?" he whispered into her ear as he sat next to her.

She shot up and stared at him with make up smeared all over her face from crying. She seemed surprised and almost disgusted at his coming and presence. The expression on her face showed that she had been expecting someone else. She was disappointed. "Wha-What? Oh-" she said before calming down from shock. "Hello Viktor"

She looked like she was going to burst into tears again. She wasn't the crying type so Viktor knew that when Hermione cried, she really was crying.

He tried to ignore the hurt feeling he was getting from her and brought her into his arms for a hug and settled her on his lap. He had a feeling that this was what she needed, a hug. He hugged her tightly and whispered in rapid Bulgarian about how much she meant to him into her ear. He hoped that it would soothe her in some way.

She hugged him back and seemed to be calming down. Her breathing wasn't as harsh as it had been.

Viktor suddenly realized that there were more people out where they were than there had been when he had first come out. To avoid a crowd from forming, he lifted her up and started to make his way to the first place he could think of. The Durmstrang Ship.

As he walked out of the castle with Hermione in his arms, a gust of cold winter wind hit them. He wasn't cold but he was sure that Hermione was since she was wearing a very thing layer of clothing. He took his wand out and put a heating charm on the both of them.

He heard a soft moan and could feel Hermione's arms slither around his neck. Her head rested comfortably against his chest and he was so sure that she could hear how fast his heart was beating now.

He got to the ship and soon was in his room. He shut the door behind him and put alarming charms so that he didn't need to lock the door, incase Hermione got the wrong idea. He went over to his settee and placed her there before going off to get a cup of water.

"Viktor?" Hermione said, as he drank.

"Yes Hermi-own?" he said.

"Can I stay here for the night?" she asked with a tired yet determined expression. "I don't want to go back to the castle"

Viktor was sure of why she didn't want to, remembering the expression on the red headed boy's face. "Okay, if you vant. I just don't vant people to get the vrong impre-ss-i-on of vhere you vent off to for the night"

"Doesn't matter" she said. "I'll go back early in the morning... I'm just so tired"

Viktor went to the toilet to get changed and everything and when he came back, he found Hermione lying on the settee.

He watched her and felt a sudden urge to hold her tightly and to kiss her and everything. But he controlled himself. His mother had taught him better than to think in such horrible ways. He made his way to his bed and pulled the covers on top of him before closing his eyes. Hermione was probably asleep by now.

After a moment, he suddenly felt the covers lifted and found someone slipping in next to him. He opened his eyes and found Hermione in his arms. "Her-mi-own!" he said. "Vhat are you doing? You are not trying to-"

She shook her head with a groan. "I just want someone to hold me" she said quietly. "My parents aren't here so they can't do it for me. I want to feel wanted and comforted. I'm just so hurt and-"

Viktor immediately brought her into his arms and held her tightly. He could smell her more clearly than ever and was transfixed and totally amazed by her. She smelt not quite as he had expected. Most people would have thought that she smelt like book pages. He had thought that she would smell lavender like. She actually had the smell that reminded him of spring, a burst of new life and flowers.

He suddenly heard her chuckle and opened his eyes after realizing that he had been closing them. "Vhat?"

"You're sniffing me" she said. "Do I smell that good?"

He awkwardly smiled back. "Yes you do"

She smiled. "You know Viktor, you should smile some more. You look very handsome"

He took his wand out and cleared her face of the make up and found himself looking at the beautiful girl behind the make up. Honestly, she shouldn't wear any make up. He liked her natural. "You think I look handsome vhen I smile?" he asked.

She nodded. "More handsome than you usually do actually"

Hermione gave him a squeeze of a hug and sighed into his chest before slowly falling asleep.

Viktor watched her for a moment and wondered what was going on inside of her head. He found it really hard to figure her out. She was so different, so unique, and so hard to know, those were three of the many things he liked about her. Most girls were pretty obvious. They only wanted to be part of his fame, money, and power. But Hermione...

He loved her a lot. Maybe too much. Just looking at her made him feel like he was in heaven.

He wasn't so so sure about her returning the love though. She could be so distant sometimes, like she wasn't sure.

He had seen the way the red haired boy looked at her. Sometimes, Hermione would return the look. She probably didn't realize that she was. She was still young...

He kissed her cheek before slowly falling asleep. At least for now, she was his.

A/N New story. Not sure how long this will go for. Maybe up to four chapters since I'm going to do four scenes