Hermione Granger

The end of the Hogwarts term had always been hard. But even the past three years could not have prepared Hermione Granger for the end of this, her fourth year. Hogwarts had hosted two other wizarding schools, Beuaxbatons and Durmstrang, in the famed Triwizard Tournament that year. It was made especially extraordinary because her best friend, Harry Potter, had been made an unprecendented fourth champion, and that the event had ended in tragedy with the death of the other Hogwarts champion, Cedric Diggory, and the supposed return of Lord Voldemort.

Now, as Hermione wandered about the front courtyard outside of the castle, looking for Harry and her other best friend (that's all he was…wasn't he?), Ron Weasley, she could see that the normally wide space was cramped with students in school robes. The Beuaxbatons carriage would be departing soon, as would the Durmstrang ship, and students were using the precious limited time left to say goodbye to new friends made over this past year.

Hermione finally spotted her buddies standing cramped near the doors that led to the grounds beyond the courtyard. All their luggage stood around them in heaps. Hermione quickly joined them and set down her one giant suitcase and other smaller carry-on bag down beside the mound of their belongings.

Rather than shy away from the horror of the last few weeks, the Golden Trio instead focused on it while conversing with each other. Harry, Ron and Hermione had gained a reputation of being mystery-crackers and heroes at the school, so the magnetic pull of natural inquisitiveness was even greater than the long summer vacation that was mere hours away. Soon, however, lighter comments were made.

"Wonder how the Durmstrangs are going to get home?" Ron wondered. "Reckon they can steer the ship without Karkaroff?"

"Karkaroff did not steer," came a voice from behind them. "He stayed in his cabin and let us do the vork." The trio jumped and turned. Hermione's heart also skipped a beat. There was Triwizard champion and famous Bulgarian Quidditch player Viktor Krum. He had also been Hermione's date to the Yule Ball (much to Ron's consternation). Clearly, he had come to say goodbye to her – something Hermione had, up until this moment, not thought to do.

"Could I have a vord?" Viktor asked her.

"Oh…err…yes, alright," Hermione replied, sounding slightly flustered. She could almost feel the heat coming to her cheeks. Viktor turned and moved away into the crowd. Hermione had no choice but to follow, only half-listening to Ron's warning that the horseless carriages would be here soon to take them to Hogwarts Station. She called over her shoulder to ask the boys to carry her luggage. Harry immediately dove for the carpet bag, so that Ron, to Hermione's amusement, could only lift her giant suitcase over his shoulder with a grunt and stagger after the Boy Who Lived.

Hermione followed Victor out of the courtyard and back into an empty corridor. He took her hand.

"Hermione," he began, struggling as he always had with the pronunciation of her name. "I vant to stay in touch vith you. You could vrite to me." He handed her a slip of paper with his address on it. Hermione nodded and smiled.

"Thank you, Victor. That sounds fine."

"Also," Victor added, and here, he seemed to flush. "I vas vondering…vould you like to visit me in Bulgaria. I have…never felt like this about anyone else before."

Hermione nodded slowly. She would actually really like to visit him in Bulgaria.

"All Bulgarian students, all aboard the ship!" a voice boomed out. Victor turned back to Hermione; he now looked slightly panicked.

"Sbogom, moya lyubov," he said. Then, he unexpectedly seized Hermione around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her right on the lips. Hermione's eyes bulged as their lips touched. She had her hands pressed against Victor's muscular chest. She had no idea what to do. She had never been kissed before. No one had ever thought to snog her, the term that the British used for kiss. Then, her wide-open eyes darted over to the left. Some girls, obviously fans of Victor's, were watching them. Their looks ranged from shock to envy to teary. Hermione realized this was an opportunity to show some that she was not the bookworm that everyone thought she was; that she had, in fact, changed this year.

"Mmmm…." she moaned, and leaned against Victor, snogging him right back. Exhilarated, Victor lifted her clean off the ground. Hermione cautiously wrapped her legs around his waist, and her arms snaked around his neck. She had absolutely no experience with snogging up until now, but that did not mean she was not willing to try and explore.

Victor, staggered forward until Hermione had been slammed up against the wall. They were kissing heatedly now. Hermione shifted her hands and cupped his face, her lips digging deeper against his. She closed her eyes. Snogging in general, not to mention snogging with a famous international Quidditch player, was the most wonderful feeling in the world. Yet, even as she kissed Victor, Hermione could not help but have one thought fly through her otherwise numb brain: I'm betraying Ron; I don't want to hurt Ron… Indeed, a tiny part of her wished, imagined, that she was kissing Ron instead….

Victor and Hermione broke the kiss at last. Hermione was breathing heavily. Victor set her down, gave her a peck on the cheek. He repeated the words he had said before he had grabbed Hermione and snogged her senseless. Then, he ran for the ship. Hermione watched him go, fingers against her cheek and lips, hardly daring to believe what had just happened.

When Hermione finally caught up to Harry and Ron at the carriages, both boys noticed she was oddly quiet. Harry could tell that Ron was concerned about this, though he tried to hide it. So, Harry distracted him by talking about Wizard Chess stats.

At last, they reached the train. The three friends climbed aboard and found a usual empty compartment all to themselves. Harry was running out of things to keep Ron occupied with. Hermione only listened. Finally, Ron could not do small talk with Harry any longer, and turned to Hermione.

"So, what did Vicky want?" he teased casually. He knew this nickname would go home for Hermione. Hermione, as predicted, gave him a pointed look. But, then, she blushed.

"Well, if you must know, he… asked if we could write to each other, and he also invited me to visit him in Bulgaria." There was no way she was going to give any details further than that. But, there was still something that she was curious about… she turned to Harry.

"Harry, what does 'Sbogom, moya lyubov' mean? I think it's Bulgarian."

"Merlin if I know," Harry shrugged. "But…" He fished into his pocket and pulled out a small object. Ron leaned forward.

"What is that?"

"It's a Muggle telephone. It's mobile," Harry explained, without even looking up from what he was doing. Hermione nodded in affirmation. "It's one of Dudley's old ones that Uncle Vernon made him give to me," he continued, as he began to type on it. He stared intently at the screen. Then, he stopped and flushed. "Oh…that's interesting…"

"What?" Hermione asked eagerly, leaning forward now, too. "What does it mean?"

"Not now," Harry hissed to her. "I'll tell you when we get off the train…"

"NO, YOU BLOODY WELL WILL NOT!" Ron suddenly roared, and there was an odd sort of panic in both his voice and features. Harry and Hermione both jumped. But before any of them could say anything further, Fred, George and Ginny walked in.

"What's all the shouting about?" Ginny whined, her hands over her ears. "We were just wondering if you lot were up for a game of Exploding Snap."

That distracted the six of them for the rest of the train ride. When the Hogwarts Express finally pulled in to King's Cross, Harry hung back to give his winnings to Fred and George. Then, he joined Hermione and the Weasleys on the platform beyond the barrier. The Weasleys left, Ron waving awkwardly to the two of them. The look of worry and sadness on his face made Hermione's heart want to break. Still, once the group of redheads were out of sight, she turned back to Harry expectantly.

"Well?"

"It means 'Goodbye, my love,' in Bulgarian," Harry explained. He placed a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "I don't know what happened back there with you and Victor, Hermione, though I can guess. All I will say is…I hope you know what you're doing." Though nothing else was said, Hermione could read the hidden message behind her best friend's words loud and clear…and now she felt like her heart had broken.

Harry headed off to the waiting Dursleys, leaving Hermione behind to ponder. Though she had enjoyed her first snog, she felt guilty that she had not shared it with Ron. She secretly had wanted the youngest Weasley boy to be her first kiss. Could she ever tell him about what had happened with Victor? Years later, when she and Ron were happily married and had children, she would learn that he had known about that moment with Victor for a long time…but that's another story.