Hogwarts the school of Witchcraft and Wizardry was an interesting place for Viktor Krum. It was very different to the small, dark, and gloomy atmosphere of Durmstrang. Hogwarts had lighting pretty much everywhere including the dungeons whilst Durmstrang had none. Everywhere you went, there was something cheerful about the place and Durmstrang was just the complete opposite. Even Hogwart's lake had happier magical creatures living underneath it's surface. There was nothing to be happy about or look forawrd to in Durmstrang.
Viktor was at one of the many unused roofs of Hogwarts. He had been there a couple of times since his arrival here and had found it to be a peaceful place where he could hide from his celebrity life and his fan girls. He had been here for about three months now and had been chosen to be one of the three (four) Tri-Wizard chapions. The roof was pretty much empty except for one thing. There was a cage.
The cage in front of him was filled with muggle pigeons who were all too eager to fly. They were flying about in their cage making soft winds with their wings, which were blowing towards Viktor's direction. It was gentle and calming, he felt the same feeling he got when flying on his broom up in the skies.
He knew just how much the pigeons wanted to be out and free, to be flying about and enjoying the graceful wind. The celebrity life and stardom from playing Quidditch was pretty much a prison for him. It felt like a cage where he was stuck with no where to go, unable to be free. He felt extremely claustrophobic whenever paparazzi or anything of the sort took photos of him. But whenever he flew on his broom, up above the skies, he felt alive... He felt free.
He heard footsteps behind him and wondered who would come up at such a time. The skies were darker now and only a tiny bit of light could be seen over the horizon of the mountains. It was almost curfew for the students of Hogwarts, Beauxbaton and Durmstrang too.
He turned around and found his dark eyes meet lighter ones that had a touch of molten chocolate to it. He had seen those eyes a couple of times and had taken a liking to it which he hardly ever did with anyone else as other people looked at him differently. The eyes belonged to a prepubescent girl with English rosy skin, bushy brown hair, and a rather startled look on her face. He had remembered her name to be Her... Herme... Hermio... Just Granger would do for now, he could ask for her name later which was quite difficult for him to pronounce.
He was surprised to see that she wasn't holding any books in her hands today as he had always usually seen her with at least five on each hand. He suddenly felt horrible as she seemed to feel uncomfortable in his presence. Her face was screwed up into a worried expression as if she had done something wrong. Was he scowling as he 'usually' did again? His only true friends, Yuri and Atanas had told him his scowls were quite intimidating. He decided to try and put on a smile.
"Oh I'm sorry," the Hogwarts girl said, apologetically and unsure. She turned her head to her left then right, as if searching for a way out. It made her busy hair move a bit and she pushed it away with her hands. "I thought that nobody was going to be up here... It's quite late after all."
He looked at her and thought that now being alone with her and having a good view of her face, she was actually quite pretty. He had remembered seeing her for the first time during the Quidditch World Cup finals against Ireland. She had been a sort of distraction for him which resulted with the loss as her eyes had been something quite special for him. Even from a distance, he had seen just what a lovely colour of molten chocolate they were and now he had a better view. He was breathless.
He saw they way her Hogwarts school robes unfairly covered her growing curves and wondered how they would look like without the robes... Or anything on. He imagined her standing there for a moment without anything on and imagined her eyes, sparkling and shining brightly like the stars in the sky. She was walking over to him and asking him if she could do anything to pleasure him. He shook the thought out of his head and stood in a way to hide his arousal. As hormonal as he was being almost eighteen, he knew he shouldn't be thinking about her in such a way. He hardly knew her or vice versa for the matter. He had brought up to respect people by his mother so now he felt ashamed.
"Stay if vant," he said. He scowled again, forgetting to smile, knowing how awful his English was. Why hadn't he paid attention to the English classes he had at Durmstrang? "Is enuff space for too."
She frowned for a moment, as if wondering if she should stay or not. By the expression on her face and the way her body was positioned, he realised that she probably didn't have this sort of contact or communication with guys. Viktor liked that she was different to the other girls. If he had asked some other ordinary girl to stay, they probably would have been without clothes by now and running over to him, offering him all sorts of things. The girl looked at him with anything but happy on her face.
"I come up here to feed the pigeons for Hagrid sometimes," she said. "He likes to keep it a secret that he keeps pigeons here."
"Vhy?" Viktor asked. He probably sounded rude and wondered if the Hogwarts girl was offended by him. He hardly ever had proper conversation with people apart from his mother. His father wasn't around as he had been killed by Death Eaters when Viktor had been almost one. One of the main reasons why he had taken up Quidditch as a hobby which later turned into a passion was because his father's first gift to him had been a broom. It was what kept Viktor in contact with his father, it was a memory for him. Whenever he flew, not only did he felt free, but he could feel his father watching him... Talking to him.
"I don't know to be honest," the girl with molten chocolate eyes said. "I like feeding them though. Why are you up here at such an hour?"
"Vhen I come here, saw pi-ge-on," he began. He sounded pathetic and he knew. "Making me thinking of self. They stuck. Vant free, vant fly. I liking to fly, feel free. You understand vhat I saying?"
She smiled at him for the first time. He hoped that this was a sign that more was to come, she looked absolutely gorgeous when she did. Had anyone told her about that?
"I perfectly understand what you are trying to say. You speak good English." she said, still smiling. Her eyes sparkled as he had imagined her when she had been without clothes... "For a celebrity, you seem quite down to Earth and grounded. You aren't as cocky as I had first thought. I'm sorry if what I've said or thought offended you in anyway."
He grew to like her more and more as a person as she continued to speak. She was definitely something special, a one of a kind. It was hard for him to find people who saw him different from what he actually was. Everybody saw him as Viktor Krum, World Class Seeker, the best of his field, the youngest to ever play in the world cup, the only seeker to have appeared in two world cups and still not eighteen. This Hogwarts girl he had seen when he had gone to put his name in the Goblet of Fire, saw him as Viktor Krum, seventeen years old, Bulgarian student from Durmstrang. She saw him to be no different than herself.
"No, not off-en-ded." he said, trying to smile for her once more. He hoped that she knew that his smile for her was something special, he never smiled for just anybody. "I am thinking I haff bad English. Thank you not thinking me- how you saying? Cocky? Also, I am thinking I like that you seeing me like you. You seeing me as Viktor Krum, not Viktor Krum the seeker."
"You're not any different from anyone else," she said. "We're all human right?"
He nodded then remembered something as he heard the fluttering of a bird's beating wings. "You coming to feeding pigeons, yes?"
She looked surprised for a moment. "Oh right, I forgot," she said.
She took something out of her pocket and walked up towards him- the cage. She took her wand out and muttered a spell and soon the pigeon food, which turned out to be bread, was inside the cage, and the water bowl had been refilled.
She turned to look at him and smiled. She then frowned as a thought came to her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't introduce myself to you. How rude of me."
He looked at her eyes and saw the worried look in her eyes and chuckled. She was such an interesting girl. "Maybe, going back to door, then come back and introduce? English saying, start again?"
The Hogwarts girl walked back to where she had been when they had first saw each other today and shut the door behind her. Two seconds later, the door opened and their eyes met. She smiled at him. "Hello, my names Hermione Granger," she said.
"Hello, Her-mio-ninny," he said, scowling as he mispronounced her name. "I'm Viktor Krum."
She giggled and walked a bit closer to him so that they were standing in front of each other. She reached up to his chest and he thought just how perfect she would look in his arms when locked in an embrace. Viktor took his wand out and muttered 'Lumos' so that they could see each other properly. It was completely dark now so you couldn't see anything up on the roof.
He saw the way the light on his wand made Hermione's face glow, her skin looked brighter than usual too. Her eyes shined a beautiful colour of a caramel and her lips was perfectly shaped. He saw the way the shadows near her eyes made her look sexier than usual and felt another arousal. He lowered his eyes down as secretly as possible and could a very obvious hint of her curves. He felt a sudden urge to remove her of her clothes but remembered that they weren't at a stage any closer than an acquaintance. And she was younger than him by a couple of years too, and what his mother had always told him kept telling him to stop thinking of her in such a way. Viktor Krum had never felt so many desirable thoughts come to him over a girl and wondered why he was thinking in such a way. He hardly knew her.
"It's all right if you can't get my name right," she said, grinning. "It must be hard for you to pronounce, but practice makes perfect. It's like when you're on a broom right? You have to ride it a couple of times before you master it."
Viktor tried not to think of what she said the wrong way.... 'On a broom'... 'Have a ride'... He so wanted her to ride him right now.
"You seem a bit dazed," she said. "Do you feel that bad for pronouncing my name wrong?"
"Vhat?" he said, his fantasy of been ridden by her evaporating. "Oh yes. Feel bad."
She chuckled then suddenly looked like she was going to cry. She looked upset. Had he said or done something wrong?
"You know, Krum..." she said.
"Call me Viktor," he said, interrupting her. "I trusting you to being good friend vith me."
She looked him in the eyes. "You know Viktor," she said again. "People aren't normally this nice to me. Everyone sees me to be the bossy girl, the know it all, the mudblood."
This new information surprised him. Why would people not like such a nice girl? She seemed decent enough for him and didn't treat him like a celebrity. He hardly ever got proper normal conversations with anybody too. Why did people see her in such a way? "Vhat is mudblood?" he asked her. He then remembered something. "Bright hair boy calling you this name before."
She looked disgusted and hurt. It probably meant that it was something not very nice. "It's a horrible term use to define a muggleborn witch or wizard," she said. She looked at him carefully in the eyes again. "I know that you are a pureblood. Are you going to hate me now? I'm a mudblood."
He looked at her curiously, wondering why she was asking him to hate her. "No, I don't vant to hate you. I do not caring if you are muggleborn. My great grandmother vas muggleborn."
She held an expressionless expression on her face and suddenly seemed to relax. She stared at him silently for a moment. "Why are you so unlike what I thought you were? Maybe it's just the stereotype of a celebrity... you're too... kind."
He offered her a small smile. "You are special too, Hermi-own." he said. He frowned at the mispronunciation and tried to ignore it. "You not treating me like ce-leb-brity. You treating me normal person and making me happy. Thank you."
The lumos lighting in between them made the setting around them feel a bit more than platonic for each other. It felt too romantic in a way. It didn't help that the pigeons in the cage beside them had stopped flying about now and were chirping quietly to one another. It was as if they were singing love songs for each other.
Viktor turned to look at the pigeons but could only see an outline of the pigeon as it was pretty dark. He had a thoughtful expression on his face as he began to speak. "You thinking it is alvight if I letting them out of cage?" he asked. His English started to get better and he thanked the times he paid attention during the Modern Language classes. "Pigeons are said to returning to their coops even if they fly five hundred kilometer or something avay. I vanting them to feel free and happy too. Like how I feel vhen I fly."
"I'm not so sure..." Hermione said. "Hagrid might get upset if they don't return."
Viktor looked at her pleadingly. "Please?" he asked. "They cannot stay behind bars foreffer... If they do not return. You can tell your friend it is my fault. I vill take the blame."
"Still..." she said. "These pigeons aren't mine."
"At least two of them?" he begged.
She frowned for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "All right," she said, giving in to his wishes. "Just two."
Viktor walked towards the cage, beckoning Hermione to follow him so that she wouldn't be in the dark. He shown his wand carefully in front of the cage so that he did not startle the pigeons. He saw that there were about three pigeons inside the cage.
"Let those two out," Hermione said.
Viktor saw that she had picked the grey coloured one and the black coloured one and frowned as he saw the white pigeon. "You know that you cannot just picking any pigeon," he said. "Let the black pigeon and the white pigeon out." he said.
She looked at him curiously. "Why?" she asked.
He gave her a look that made her hold a curious expression on her face. Viktor realised that Hermione Granger was truly unlike any other. She liked learning about new things, facts, information... Not make up, clothes and boys like other girls did.
"Because they are lovers," he said plainly, emphasising the word 'lovers'.
She sighed and frowned at him as if it were a ludicrous thing to say such a thing. "Just because they are lovers doesn't mean that they should be the only ones to fly out and about."
He saw that Hermione was clearly not a romantic. She probably never been in love before to realise the significance of what love could do to one person. "It is better to be flying together than to separate lovers. It is hurtful."
"So?" she said. "People not in love can hang out together too you know."
She had changed the topic slightly to humans which made Viktor curious. Was there somebody in her mind and thoughts? Somebody she loved that loved another which made her feel in such a way as to not really consider love as anything important?
"Did you knowing that once pigeons get married, they do not cheat and move on to another?" he suddenly said. "Once they... once they make love let's say, is vhen they make a commitment to one another than they vill loff no other. They are bonded forever until one dies..."
Hermione Granger went silent for a moment as if in thought. What he had said had probably got her thinking.
Seeing as she wasn't going to move a say anything for some time, Viktor opened the cage and took the black and white pigeon out. They were both perched on his arm, faithfully standing next to each other and not moving away from his arm.
"Return tomorrow, pigeons," he said softly.
He then lifted his arm up and set them flying. He could see how happy they looked, how free they were as they flew towards the nighttime sky and smiled. He then looked at the lonely pigeon in the cage and sighed as it looked as if it were crying, not because it was not able to fly but because it did not have another half. "I know how you feel little fella. You vant a loff too." he said.
"Viktor," Hermione suddenly said, putting a hand to his arm.
He felt an electric shock of some sort sent all over his body via skin travel and felt as if some sort of connexion had been made between them. He wondered if she had felt it too and could see it through her eyes that she indeed had. She looked at him in the eyes and for a moment, they spoke nothing to each other.
"Viktor," she said again after clearing her throat. "Let this one out free too... Let them free. I'll tell Hagrid that they should be free on not in a cage to be locked and suffer..."
"Pigeons may look stupid and have short memories but are loyal," Viktor said. "This cage is their home, they vill be back."
"But you said you wanted them to be free?" she said.
"Free as in free to fly vheneffer they vant to," he said. "Keep the cage door open."
Hermione walked closer to the cage and bent down and forward to beckon the pigeon to perch itself on her arm.
Viktor's eyes found it's way to her bum and he couldn't help but smile as he watched it shake and move, it was killing him. He hoped that the pigeon didn't move for a bit more as he needed his arousal to go away.
"Come here pigeon, come here," she muttered. "Come on!"
"You shouldn't beckoning pigeon like that," he said. "Speak vith softer voice."
"If you're so good, why don't you do it," she said, standing up and putting her hands to her waist.
He chuckled. "Okay."
He walked over and called for the pigeon, using the exact same words that Hermione had used except with a softer voice. The pigeon flew to his arm and perched itself there.
Hermione frowned. "Why did it listen to you and not to me?" she asked.
"Treat them like humans, vould you like to be spoken to vith an angry foice?" he asked.
"True..." she said.
"Vant to set the pigeon off flying?" he asked.
"Okay..." she said.
He placed the pigeon on her arms and told her to just raise her arm quickly to get it to fly. She lifted her arm, but the pigeon didn't fly.
"What the..." she said.
Viktor chuckled and almost dropped his wand. The lumos spell went off and it was dark. They heard a sudden flutter and the beating of wings and knew that the pigeon and flown off from fright. He chuckled even more and muttered a 'lumos' at the same time.
"That wasn't funny!" Hermione said, squinting her eyes as the light shown on their faces.
He chuckled and looked at her. "So stubborn you are," he said. "Sorry but vas funny."
She suddenly smiled and the disappointment and tinge of anger disappeared. "At least it flew off." she said.
She suddenly took her robes off and muttered something about feeling hot.
Viktor tried not to watch her as she did so but couldn't help it. He saw the red tank top she was wearing and finally got to see a bit more clearly what he so wanted to see. If she kept doing such things to him at this pace, he was going to need a cool shower to cool off. He lowered his eyes down and saw that she was wearing shorts which showed her legs off. Her legs weren't that long but was long enough to make him want to have his hands all over them. He scowled as he tried to get the thoughts away. How could he think like this in her presence?
"Do you like to fly?" he asked her, to distract himself from the beauty in front of him. "Like fly on a broom."
"If you know my past history, brooms and I just don't get along," she said.
He frowned and felt his heart sink for a bit but it stopped when he realised something. This girl in front of him, who he was beginning to feel so close to and possibly start to fall for was almost the complete opposite of him. One of the few things that they had in common were their love for books and knowledge.
"I vas hoping to ask you if you vanted to ride vith me on my broom." he said.
She looked at him curiously and there was a small hint of a glare in her eyes. "In what way?" she asked. "Because if you are asking me what I'm guessing you are, the answer is no, I'm not like those silly girls."
"I vasn't asking for that," he said, though he wanted to. He wanted to be on top of her and all over her. "I vanted to ask if you vant to fly vith me on brooms used for Quidditch."
He wondered if she was blushing because her rosy skin was turning into a rosy colour of red. "Like on a date?" she asked.
"Yes," he said. "I saw you couple of times in the library... I know that my fan girls annoy you a lot vith screaming and noises. But I only vent to library to see you. And I think you are special and different. You allow me to be vho I am, not vhat people vant me to be."
He knew that she was really blushing now because the heat and blood rushing to her cheeks were much more brighter than the light from his wand.
"Oh um..." she said, looking very flustered.
"I vill like it very much if you said yes because I maybe like you?" he said. "You make me feel happy just talking to you."
"I... I..." she repeated slowly.
Viktor hoped that he had not messed his chance up. It was now or never...
There was a sudden sound of a bird's beating winds. It was quite quiet to as it was night so they could hear it clearly.
Viktor turned his head around to find that the black and white bird were perched on top of the cage and were... kissing each other? They looked so in love... From the corner of his eye, he could see that Hermione had seen them too and looked like she was having a dreamy expression on her face which was probably something she never had as she was all logic.
"If not flying on broom then vill you like to be my date for the Yule Ball?" he asked. "Or maybe both? I'll be a happy and honored if it vere to be so."
She was looking at him now and her eyes were widening. "Y-Yule Ball?" she repeated in a questioning like voice.
"Yes, Yule Ball." he said.
She looked like she was hoping to have had somebody else ask her. The expression on her face expressed that she was lost... confused... upset... worried... She turned and looked like she was looking at the pigeons again and suddenly, there was a smile on her face. A new thought had come to her. The corner of her lips rose a little and she was really smiling now. Her blushing had faded away but she looked happy.
"I will be happy to accept both of your offers," she said.
He smiled at her. It was probably the biggest smile he had ever given anyone as it hurt a bit to smile. He didn't care though, he would hurt himself to make her happy. He felt his heart quicken in pace as he watched her. Thump. Thump. Thump. It went, rapidly quickening in pace but in a good way. Was he truly falling for this girl with the lovely molten chocolate eyes? He suddenly wished that she were in his arms.
"May I hug you?" he asked.
She looked surprised at his question but smiled. "Sure."
He carefully walked up to her and slowly wrapped his arms around her. He felt her shiver but she was relaxing and getting used to his touch. Her head rested against his chest and her arms slowly went around him, her hands stopping at his shoulder blades and she gasped.
"Wow, you're buff," she suddenly said. "Sorry if I sound like some silly fan girl... I just... Never felt someone like this before though seen them..."
He looked at her curiously. "Vhat is buff?" he asked.
She looked flustered as she looked up at him. He liked her being in his arms. "You could say that buff is something like muscular... Fit." she said.
"Vell I haff to be," he said. "The magazines and my boss expecting me to be so." he said.
There was a sudden noise and a grunt. Hermione looked surprised and let go of her hold on him. "Filch!" she hissed. She looked at him worriedly in the eyes. "If he catches us up this late, we're dead! And especially being a boy and girl alone at night... He's going to think we were up to something..."
Viktor smiled at the thought but knew that Hermione was a pure girl and didn't want her image and beliefs to suffer any damage. As much as he wanted to do so many things with her, he wasn't going to do anything unless she wanted to. Another thought came to him. "I guess ve shall have an earlier date now?" he said.
"What?!" she asked.
"Let's go flying!" he said, taking his minimised broom out of his pocket. He enlarged it with his wand and stuffed his wand into his pants. "Sit."
She looked frightened all of a sudden. "But I- I- I'm scared of flying!" she said quietly with a hint of a hiss.
He looked at her and put his hands on her waist and held her protectively. "Herm-own," he began. "Ve kind of dating now... I cannot let anything bad happen to my girlfriend. I vill protect you and make sure you don't fall. But I vill not be there to stop you from falling in loff vith me."
She giggled at his comment. "Gosh, that was really sweet of you to say." she said. "I trust you Viktor, I'll go. I'm guessing that Filch is almost up here now."
Viktor, who still had his hands on her waist, lifted her up and settled her on his broom. He then jumped a bit to get himself on too. He was behind her and hand one arm wrapped protectively around her and the other held onto to his broom. "Close your eyes," he said. "You vill feel safer. I hope you like flying from now on because I vill make this enjoyable."
He then launched the broom as slowly as possible and it began to fly. They were soon about fifteen meters above the ground and he could see a man on the roof, muttering something about, 'stupid peeves'.
"You can open your eyes now, Herm-io-ninny," he said. "It's very dark, you probably cannot seeing anything."
She giggled as quietly as she could as the man Filch was still down there. "Yes, it's less scarier flying when you can't see anything."
"I'll take you two rounds around school before dropping you off at the vindow of your dorm?" he said. "I vill make our first date unforgettable."
"Viktor, your English has really improved," she said. "In about less than an hour too!"
"Talking to you has done so," he said.
They then flew two rounds around the school, talking to each other about their schools and getting to know each other more. Viktor found out that her parents were people who had a profession in teeth. Hermione had said they were called 'dentists'. She lived in muggle Oxford in a small house and had gone to a muggle school before attending Hogwarts. He had told her that he lived in a castle similar to Hogwarts. He also told her that his father used to be an auror and that his mother was a housewife. He had told her that his family had famous ancestry and were pretty rich so that his mother didn't need to work to earn money. They had enough money to be used up for more than twenty human lives. She said that she was against having houseelves do work and become slaves of wizards and witches. He was going to tell his parents to get rid of their houseelves, he didn't want to have anything that Hermione didn't like...
He couldn't believe that he had found someone, a girl, have him change himself bit by bit. Nobody had ever had an effect on her that made him want to do so. He wondered if she could be the one. The one his mother had told him about that would make her heart beat at a fast pace, to have butterflies in your stomach that didn't seem to leave. Could she be the one? He would find out later... he had hardly known her for longer than three months.
He felt his heart drop as they approached the window to enter her dorm. He had enjoyed the ride with her. The date had been fantastic. He helped her get onto the kind of flooring of the window and smiled at her as she looked at him.
"Did you enjoy the date?" he asked quietly, knowing that there were people inside. They were probably sleeping as it was pretty late now.
"Yes," she said, blushing. "You're the first guy I ever gone out with."
"Really?" he asked, surprised. He remembered the red haired boy and had thought that they had gone out before. "I expected you to have gone out vith boys before. You are very beautiful."
She blushed. "Nah..."
He brought his broom nearer to the window so that they were very close. He put an arm around her waist and hugged her. "Hermi-own Granger," he said. "I vant to tell you something."
"Yes?" she said.
"I loff you."
She blushed. "Thank you."
He then leaned forward and kissed her cheek, feeling the heat of her blush on his lips. When he stopped kissing her cheek and looked at her. She looked surprised, taken aback, and happy. She wrapped her arms around his neck shyly and hugged him one more time.
"Good night, I hope to see you tomorrow." he said. "And thank you for accepting to go to Yule Ball vith me."
"Goodnight to you too," she said, hand to the place where he had placed a kiss.
He then watched her disappear into the darkness of her room before flying back to his ship. Today was a day he was going to remember for the rest of his life. He was going out with a girl he loved, not someone his boss had set up for him. He hoped that the year didn't go by too quickly, because it was going to be the best year of his life.
A/N One chapter story. Hope you liked it.