The wizarding world was doing its best to make amends after Voldemort was finally killed. Even two years on, Britain was still struggling to return to its former glory but we needed to move on. And how did the quidditch loving masses decide to accomplish this? The Department of Magical Games and Sports had teamed up with the Department of International Magical Cooperation to organise a friendly international tournament. Whilst the quidditch fanatics in the country flocked to watch the game, the ministry workers only became more high-strung as the workload increased.

As an employee of the Department of Magical Games and Sports, the amount of work I had to do had increased drastically over the last few months and it finally cumulated to this last month leading to the tournament. Countries from around the world were sending their quidditch teams to take part in the tournament but sent them ahead in order to practice on the tournament pitch. Quite how organising all of this was my business, I didn't know.

I also had no clue when it became my duty to welcome the quidditch teams as they arrived at the meeting spot. Merlin's beard, I was supposed to be handling the paperwork, organising the accommodation and catering. I wasn't supposed to be fronting this entire thing! Where was my no-good boss when you needed him?

"Who else is supposed to be coming?" I asked my co-worker as I looked over the list of teams and organised an escort for the Welsh team who were waiting to be led to their accommodation. Within seconds another one of my co-workers was at my side, leading the team towards their accommodation.

"The German team's portkey is scheduled to bring them here within the next ten minutes," Mandy Brocklehurst said as she read something off from her clipboard, "But the Bulgarian team's portkey was brought half an hour forward – they should be getting here soon."

"The Bulgarian team," I repeated, feeling my heart fall into my stomach.

Mandy looked at me, concern displayed on her face, "Why is there some sort of problem with them arriving early?"

I was supposed to be off duty when they arrived, I thought with a frown. Instead of voicing my thoughts, I cleared my head and looked around the empty field. There was no sign of the arriving teams.

"We need to organise their escort," I said after a moment's thought. "I'll take a look at the schedule and see who's free to pop over."

"This is why you're in charge," Mandy nudged me with her shoulder as there was the distinct pop that followed magical transportation. "I'd have never thought of that."

I didn't bother to respond to her. Instead, I walked towards the team's luggage which had been magically transported over first. The players would follow shortly after. Mandy walked alongside me as I came to the luggage, picking up one of the tags only to drop it when I realised it belonged to the Bulgarian team.

"You handle the Bulgarian team, Mandy," I ordered, moving to backtrack when the team themselves arrived with the portkey.

"You're avoiding the team," she accused as the Bulgarian team and its coaches scanned the field and saw us waiting to greet them. "Why?"

"I'm not avoiding them," I insisted with rolled eyes, "Currently I'm trying to figure out why the German team isn't here yet."

"You're lying," she declared but said nothing else as the team approached us.

With a winning smile, she stepped forward to greet the team as I sent off my patronus to call for the escorts from the centre of the athlete's village. Turning my attention away from my clipboard, I approached the team and took a deep breath to steady myself.

When I spoke next, I spoke only to the captain and didn't allow my eyes to wander to the players. "I'm sorry about the delay – you've arrived a little earlier than we planned for. But your escorts shall arrive within minutes."

Their coach nodded, turning to the team and speaking to them in Bulgarian. They nodded at their coach's words and they all dispersed themselves in the field, talking quietly to one another. Almost all of them, that is. Viktor Krum had yet to move from his position. And when he did, he didn't move away from me like I hoped he would, instead he walked towards me.

I looked down at my clipboard, pretending to be busy and hoping he'd get the hint. He didn't. Instead he waited patiently for me to acknowledge him and it aggravated me. Why couldn't the stubborn man get the hint?

With a sigh, I forcefully raised my eyes to his. "Mr Krum."

The corner of his lips curved up a little at my attempt of putting distance between us. "Miss Gibson, how have you been?"

"Well," I muttered coolly, seeing the way Mandy's eyes were flickering wildly between the pair of us. I was saved from having to indulge him in further conversation when the Bulgarian team's escorts finally arrived. "Excuse me."

Walking away from him, I exchanged a few words with the team's coach who gathered his players and led them away. Viktor was hesitant to leave but after a few words with his coach, he eventually sighed and walked away.

Mandy took the chance to approach me as I wondered where the German team were. Was there some mix up with the portkey? Or had the German ministry forgotten to inform us of a change in arrival times?

"So?"

"So, what?" I asked, glancing briefly at the younger girl who was practically bouncing on her feet.

"What was that then?" she asked eagerly, "Between you and Krum?"

"That," I muttered dryly, "was karma."

"Karma?" she frowned, taking a hold of my arm when I turned my attention away from her, "Karma for what?"

"I stood him up once," I said plainly, "and now having to deal with him and be so close to him is my bad luck. Hence, karma."

More questions began to leave her mouth and I didn't blame her. If I was in her position then I would have eagerly done the same but I had no intention of answering her. Instead I let out a relieved sigh when, after a quick glance at my watch, I realised it was time for my break.

"I'm heading off for my break," I declared making her face fall, "Try and find out what's taking the German team so long to arrive and make sure you time the escorts properly. You know what Lynch is like about things being done on time.

Could I complain to the ministry once all of this was over? I could swear that some of the things that I was being made to sort out weren't my responsibility. Why was I handling so much stuff? And where the hell had the project manager ran off to when you needed him?

Merlin, why the hell was I being made to sort out the training session clashes? There was only one such clash but I had the bad luck of having to deal with the Scottish and Bulgarian teams who had sought out the manager to discuss this problem. He had promptly sent them to my temporary office. That was how I ended up with representative members of the team sat opposite me. They just had to send the most stubborn members from both of the teams, didn't they? Oliver and Viktor shared a look before turning their eyes on me and expecting me to sort the entire mess out.

I sighed under the combined weight of their eyes and dropped my head into my hands. I'd attended Hogwarts with the ruddy Scotsman and had only been two years below him so I knew all about his stubborn temper. And well, I had worked abroad in Bulgaria for a year where I got to know Viktor and his persistence certainly was something that I never wanted to go up against again. In this fight between Oliver's stubbornness and Viktor's persistence, I was caught in the crossfire and there was no clear winner. The proof to the statement had been the fact that I'd walked into my office and found them arguing with each other.

Letting out a deep breath, I lifted my head and looked to the two men who were watching me impatiently. I looked away from them, rifling through some papers as I searched for the nearest available quidditch pitches that we could use.

"Gibson," Oliver called out eventually, "what are you going to do about this?"

"This really isn't my responsibility," I whined under my breath before forcing myself to look at him.

"Vell?" Viktor demanded.

"I'm really sorry that this clash was overlooked," I said in my official ministry worker voice, "but it's too late to reorganise the entire training schedule; especially with the number of teams in the tournament." Both men were not happy but I pressed on, "Maybe we can hire out another pitch for one of the teams to use? The closest one isn't far from here." I trailed off weakly, seeing the raised eyebrow my suggestion got. "That's not good enough?"

"What do you think?" Oliver rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat, "That way one team won't be able to practice on the tournament pitch. Wasn't that the whole reason we all came down so early? To practice on the tournament pitch?"

"Experience gives an advantage," Viktor added unhelpfully.

I thought quickly, looking through the timetable of the organised practices. Biting my bottom lip I suggested, "Why don't we open the pitch in the evening? After the other practices are over and one of the teams can practice after hours so that way everyone gets to practice on the tournament pitch?"

"Night-time flying is the vorst."

"He's right," Oliver gestured to the Bulgarian who shared a smile with him.

Merlin, I was this close to strangling the pair of them. I settled for burying my head in my hands and trying not to cry in frustration. Why were quidditch players so difficult to deal with! With a deep breath, I began to look through the papers on my desk, trying to find an alternative solution.

"Give me a moment," I muttered under my breath as I contemplated penning a howler to my boss.

"Ve'll take it." His sudden declaration had me pausing, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"The evening practice slots?" I asked hopefully and when he nodded I beamed at him. "Merlin, you have no idea how thankful I am to hear you say that."

"Of course ve'll need something to compensate the disadvantage," he murmured lowly, the hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips. Oliver straightened up in his seat to glare at the Bulgarian.

"The team will want something, or you will?" He grinned at my suspicion and rose to his feet. I watched as he made his exit from the room, seeming pleased with himself as he left.

"Merlin, if I don't get that promotion I am going to quit." My eyes drifted to the Scotsman who was still seated in my office, giving me a heavy stare. "What is it now, Oliver?"

"It's not fair if they get an advantage!"

"They won't get an advantage," I assured him as I eyed the still open doorway of my office contemplatively. "He's got a bit of a personal vendetta against me. He'll probably use it to get something out of me."

"I'd better go and tell the team I sorted everything out," Oliver muttered as he rose to his feet to leave my office.

I watched him walk out before leaving the office myself and making my way towards the Bulgarian team's accommodation. Giving up my pretence of being calm. I hurried towards the cabin and was glad to find Viktor only halfway there. Catching up to him, I cut in front of him to stop him.

"I need to talk to you," I huffed slightly as I struggled to catch my breath.

"About vot?" He had that damned cute smile on his face; the one that meant he already knew what I was going to say.

"What do you want in return Viktor?"

"I'm Viktor again?" He didn't bother to hide his laugh.

"You helped me out of a sticky situation," I explained feebly, "So? What do you want in return?"

"I'll think of something, don't vorry."

He brushed past me, patting me on the top of my head as he did so. I watched him go with an exasperated grimace. I had a bad feeling about this.

I was left to oversee things that weren't my responsibility. Again.

Without bothering to get any clearing from our department, the ministry had sold more tickets to the games after the original set had sold out. As a result, we needed to expand the number of spectator accommodation that was available. I had been left to oversee it all, when it really wasn't something I was supposed to be dealing with. This was all beginning to get out of hand.

There was a call of my first name and I momentarily turned my eyes away from the construction work to see Viktor approaching me. He came to a stop beside me, overlooking the work with a raised eyebrow.

"Vot's going on?" he questioned quietly.

"We need to expand the accommodation," I explained with a frown, "the expansion is running ahead of schedule so it should all be ready long before the actual tournament begins."

"Just how many things are you in charge of?" he wondered and I really had no answer to his question.

"Honestly, I don't know." With a sigh, I looked over the newest tents which were being charmed with all the precautionary spells. "But I don't think that this is something I'm supposed to be in charge of."

"But here you are."

"Here I am." Rolling my eyes I spoke to fill the silence that had blanketed us, "It's like my boss just keeps handing things to me. Really, he's supposed to be the one handling this entire situation but the only times I've seen him since the beginning of the project is when he's telling me to do something. Like truly, I –"

"Vill you come to our practices?" he asked suddenly, taking me by surprise.

I hesitated, "I really don't have the time to do anything apart from look over my work. Especially with all the work that keeps being added to my workload."

He turned to look at me then, raising an eyebrow as he asked quietly, "Even if it's the thing I vant to compensate us having to practice in the night?"

"But why is that compensation?" I asked, exasperated, "Honestly, Viktor surely there's something else you want."

"I vont a lot of things from you," he admitted bluntly, making my eyebrows rise in shock at the admission, "But vis seemed to be the thing you would be most likely to accept."

"Viktor –" His gaze remained firm and I sighed, "I really am busy with work so I can't promise I'll be there. But I'll try. Is that enough?"

He nodded and we fell into another silence. I was supposed to be overlooking this work but why was he still here? Shouldn't he be off doing whatever it was that the players did when they weren't practicing? After a short moment of silence, he cleared his throat. I looked to him, knowing he was waiting for my attention.

"I vos curious all this time," he started cautiously and I swallowed thickly, already knowing what it was that he wanted to talk about. This was all a long time coming and I couldn't exactly cut him off. The longer I tried to delay this, the more he'd search me out to talk about this. Wasn't it best to get all of this dealt with so we could go past it and eventually move on.

"You can ask," I said gently.

"You did not come," he said softly, words almost lost in the wind, "Vy did you not come? I vos waiting for you for a long time but you did not come?"

"I didn't mean to stand you up," I confessed quickly, feeling the weight of the confession lifting from my shoulders. Turning to face him, I fidgeted awkwardly with my clipboard, not quite knowing what to do with myself. "Truly. I had every intention of meeting you that day – of, of going on that date with you but I was called away from Bulgaria. There was an emergency in the ministry and my work in Bulgaria had been cut short." His gaze didn't falter from my eyes, and I lowered mine from his as I added tentatively, "I didn't want to leave, I had to."

Again, I found myself waiting for some reaction from him. I waited for him to say something, to do something but there was nothing. Raising my eyes to his, I watched him nod slightly before reaching out to take one of my hands in his. I would have pulled it away from him had his next gesture not surprised me. Bowing low to me, he raised my hand to his lips before letting it drop back to my side.

"I have spent a long time thinking you changed your mind," he explained steadily, "it tormented me. You do not know how glad I am to know that's not the case. There is much left to discuss."

I was reduced to working late. Again.

Remembering my promise to Viktor, I had intended to stop by his practice for a few minutes just to fulfil my half of our agreement. But, once again, I'd been saddled with some work. Some of the world leaders had decided to join our minister during the tournament, after having previously declined the offer. And now I was left to try and organise some more security and accommodation during their stay. The ministry was reluctant to send some more aurors to secure the area because they were busy rounding up the last of the death eaters. It was understandable that they didn't want to pull them away from such an important task. I was left to plead for the increased number of aurors. Merlin, this was all such a headache.

Once I had finished arranging and scheduling the portkeys and had sent the application forms to the ministry, I pushed away from my desk. Dropping my head against the back of my chair, I let out a deep breath and rubbed my tired eyes. I was an employee for the Department of Magical Games and Sports so why was there so much politics involved in my work? Wasn't Lynch – my bloody boss – supposed to be the one handling the political aspect of this tournament? And yet the man was nowhere in sight.

Merlin's bloody beard, all of this stress better pay off in the form of that rumoured promotion. Or maybe a demotion for Lynch – either was desirable.

Rising to my feet, I straightened up my desk before deciding to pack it in for the night. Locking my office behind me, I started the long trek towards my accommodation but decided to stop by the pitch on my way there.

I watched as the Bulgarian team practiced for their upcoming match. They were playing in the first match of the tournament, going up against the team from Chad – if I remembered correctly. From my vantage point at the entrance of the stands I could see the entire team as they practiced their manoeuvres but they couldn't see me. It would be easy for me to slip away without gaining anyone's attention.

Or rather that would have been true, had the team's keeper not spied me from her position in front of the hoops. She had shouted towards Viktor and they conversed briefly in Bulgarian before the seeker was making his way over to me. I was tempted to turn away and continue on my way and I would have done, had he not crossed the pitch in a matter of seconds, hovering in front of me.

I waited for him to say something, distantly hearing the coach call for a time out. Viktor frowned as he looked over me, dismounting from his broom.

"Vy do you always look so tired?" he asked concerned, reaching out a hand as if to touch my face.

Clearing my throat, I stepped away from him and he lowered his hand back to his side. "I was working late again."

"Vy? Should I talk to your boss?"

"No!" I exclaimed with wide eyes, "Merlin, no! There's enough rumours going around about why you keep hovering around me. No one needs to hear that you spoke to my boss for me."

"Sorry." He rubbed at the back of his neck, smiling apologetically. "I didn't know I have caused you so much trouble."

"Honestly," I muttered under my breath, screwing my tired eyes shut for a moment. "I just can't wait for this all to be over. Once this tournament is done I'm going to go into hibernation."

"You need to relax," he rumbled. "It's not healthy."

"I'll relax when I get the time to." Looking past him, I watched as the team spoke between themselves and tried to act as if they weren't casting curious looks our way. Turning back to Viktor, I gestured back to his team, "You should get going."

"I could help," he offered, and I furrowed my eyes in confusion, "Once this is all over, we could relax together?"

I tried not to wince and said hesitantly, "It's not the right time Viktor."

He nodded understandingly as he boarded his broom. He kicked off from the ground, hovering in the air in front of me, he muttered, "It never is."

Biting on my bottom lip, I watched his expression as I offered another excuse, "It's not the only reason. There's the whole location thing. You're on the other side of the continent."

"Vy should that matter?" He tilted his head curiously, eyes rooting me to my spot. "We don't need to think about all those things right now, do we?"

I shook my head slowly, backing away from him as I admitted, "I'm the sort of person that needs to think about stuff like this. I'm not the type of person to go on a date or start a relationship with someone if it has no future."

"Vell, neither am I." With a cough, he asked, "Vy do you think there's no future between us? I think there is."

The first match of the tournament was a tense time for all of the ministry workers. We were technically supposed to be watching the match and enjoying ourselves but somehow, we all found ourselves on the lookout for any sort of trouble. Mandy was the worst. She had taken a hold of my arm at the beginning of the match and as it progressed, her hold on my arm had only tightened and she continued to whisper aggravating remarks in my ear.

When the two seekers were diving towards the ground in an obvious Wronski feint, I had grown tense because Viktor was cutting it really close. She had grown tense as she muttered in my ear that having two players crash in the first match was bound to be bad luck as well as bad publicity. After the seekers had subsequently pulled up at the last minute, we had both released big sighs of relief. I had managed to untangle my arm from hers, just as Viktor made a final dash for the snitch and caught it before the seeker from the opposing team had even managed to spy it. The game ended with Bulgaria winning the match by just 10 points.

Lynch had managed to make an appearance to the game – managing to get his face photographed and taking the responsibility for the entire tournament. What an idiot.

I made the mistake of meeting his eyes and he ushered me over to him. With a sigh, I rose from my seat and made way towards him only to be told that I needed to arrange for a portkey. The minister from Chad, after his team's had lost and been knocked out of the tournament, saw no need to stick around until their next match. I was struggling not to curse Lynch but gave him a polite smile before making my way to my office.

Once I was in my office, I located the portkey application forms and filled one out quickly. Merlin, if I never saw one of these bloody forms again, then I could die happily. The application form was attached to one of the ministry owls who took off and began her long-distance flight. Once the owl had flown away, out of eyesight, I crossed my arms on my desk and rested against them. Closing my eyes, I allowed myself to drift away for a brief moment. Or rather, that was what I wanted to do.

But a knock on my office door had me sitting up quickly. Looking to the open doorway, my eyebrows rose in surprise when I spied Viktor still dressed in his quidditch uniform. Rising to my feet, I gestured for him to walk into the room.

"I saw you leave," he explained as he stepped into the office, looking around as he did so.

"I was given more work to do," I explained quietly, watching as he approached my desk. "It was a good match. You played phenomenally."

"Thank you," he smiled graciously. "I'm glad you enjoyed it."

I played awkwardly with my fingers, watching as his eyes surveyed my desk and falling onto he golden snitch sitting on top of a stack of my paperwork. Merlin, I knew I should have moved that thing. He picked it up in his hands, staring down at it before looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Vy did you keep it?" he asked curiously, turning it in his hands.

Clearing my throat uncomfortably, I asked, "Why do you assume that you're the only seeker to give me a snitch? Besides, I played as a seeker in Hogwarts, is it so out of the ordinary for me to have a snitch in my office?"

"Of course not," he allowed, turning the snitch briefly in his fingers and holding it out to me so I could see the initials inscribed onto the snitch.

V.K.

Grumbling under my breath, I settled down in my seat and looked at the man with a raised eyebrow, not letting him see that he was getting under my skin. I wasn't doing a very good job of it.

"Why are you even here?" I muttered under my breath, "Shouldn't you be celebrating your win with the rest of your team?"

"I vonted to see you," he explained plainly.

"Why?"

"To celebrate with you."

"With me?" I asked, watching as he returned the snitch to its previous place. Pressing his hands flat against the table top he leaned in close to me. Retreating back slightly, I asked quietly, "Why?"

He answered my question with a kiss, surprising me by the sudden action. For all my faults, I didn't pull away or make a sound of protest. I might have responded to it and only came to my senses when there was the flash of a camera. Startled, I scrambled away from him to look at the open doorway where Rita fucking Skeeter stood with her camera still a loft.

Realising she'd been caught, she ducked out of the way and I pushed Viktor away from me. He straightened up, watching as I rushed to the doorway and looked out into the corridor as I looked around. She had ducked out of sight.

"How the fuck did she get in here?" I hissed under my breath, returning to my desk. "I need to tell the aurors."

"And vot will they do?" Viktor asked, coming out of the daze he'd slipped into. "Arrest her?"

"I don't know!" I exclaimed, throwing my hands into the air before casting a Patronus to send the message to the aurors, "But she's trespassing. She was explicitly kept off the list of authorised reporters. There has to be something they can do. I mean, they were brought into the bloody tournament to deal with instances like this!"

Making his way slowly towards me, Viktor took his hand in mine and tried to calm me. "It's not a big deal."

"But it is!" I protested, turning to the man who was acting so calm. How could he be calm? "If she manages to publish those pictures then fingers will be pointed at the both of us and they'll think this affected the game somehow."

"You trust the aurors, right?" I nodded at his question, "Then believe that they'll catch her."

"The blood woman is a menace," I muttered spitefully as he drew even closer to me, watching me carefully. Looking up at him with suspicious eyes, I narrowed them when he smiled in return. "What?"

With his sweetest smile, he asked, "Dinner?"